THREE YEARS AMONG THE 
INDIANS AND MEXICANS 




Redrawn by Miss Martha H. Hoke from porirait 
in Stevens' Blai:U Hatvk War. 



THREE YEARS AMONG 

THE INDIANS AND 

MEXICANS 

By GENERAL THOMAS JAMES 

OF MONROE COUNTY. ILLINOIS 

Edited, with notes and biographical sketches, by 
WALTER B. DOUGLAS 



SAINT LOUIS 

MISSOURI HISTORICAL SOCIETY 
MCMXVI 



.■^32 

Of this ifook, three hundred and sixiy-Jhe copies 

have been printed from type, of 

which this copy is 

No. .>o4 



Ml^o^^ /f^/?^'f 4£^^f: 




Copyright 1916 
By Missouri Historical Society 



PRESS OF 

NIXON-JONES PRINTING COMPANY 
215, Pine Street, Saint Louis 




©C1A45:3505 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER I. 



Introduction— Missouri Fur Company— Terms of Engagement 
with them — Departure for the Trapping Grounds — Inci- 
dents on the Route— The Pork Meeting— Scenery— Cheek. 
A Western Pioneer — His affair with the Irishman — A Hunt- 
ing Excursion— The Rickarees— The Mandans— The Gros 
Ventres — The Company's Fort — Cheek and Ried — Friends 
between the French and Americans — Violation of Contract ' 
by Company — Departure for Upper Missouri — Wintering — 
Trip across the Country — Famine and Cold — Scenery on the 
Yellow Stone— Manuel's Fort— Col. Menard and Manuel 
Liza — Indian Murders — A Snow Storm in the Mountains — 
Blindness — Arrival at the Forks of the Missouri — Prepara- 
tions for business ^3 

CHAPTER II. 

Colter's Race and escapes — Separation for trapping — Descent of 
the Missouri — A fine Landscape — Bad luck — Alarm from In- 
dians — Retreat to the fort — Death of Cheek — Pursuit of the 
Indians — Return — The White Bears — Incidents of hunting 
— Return to the Twenty Five Yard river — A party of Gros- 
Ventres — Suspected Robberj- — Interview with the Crows — 
Rapid crossing of the Yellow Stone — Descent to the Fort and 
the "Cache" — Robbery made certain — Passage to the Mis- 
souri — Indian character and customs — A Spree, ending al- 
most tragically — Generosity of the Company — Settlement 
with them — A sage reflection 57 

CHAPTER in. 

Employment from 1810 to 1821 — The First Santa Fe Traders — 
Members of the Fourth Santa Fe expedition — Ascent of the 
Arkansas — Vaugean — Removal of the Town of Little Rock 
— Fort Smith and Major Bradford — Trading with the 
Osages — Capt. Prior — Salt River — Salt Plains and Shining 
Mountains — Robbery by the Indians — Sufferings from thirst 
— Attack by the Indians — Further Robberies — The One Eyed 
Chief and Big Star — Indian Council — Critical Situation — 
Rescue by Spanish officers — Cordaro — Journey continued — 
— San Miguel — Peccas and its Indian inhabitants — Santa 
Fe — Farming 94 



^ 



CHAPTER IV. 

Interview with Governor Malgaris — Commencement of busi- 
ness — Departure of McKnight — Arrival of Cordaro — His 
Speech — His visit to Nacotoche — His death and character — 
— Hugh Glenn — Celebration of Mexican Independence — 
Gambling and dissipation — Mexican Indians — Domestic 
manufactures — Visit of the Utahs — Their Horses — Speech 
of the Chief Lechat — War with the Navahoes — Cowardly 
murder of their Chiefs by the Spaniards — Militia of Santa 
Fe — Attempt to go to Sonora — Stopped by the Governor — 
Interview with the Adjutant — Selling out — Hugh Glenn 
again — How the Governor paid me a Debt — Spanish Jus- 
tice — Departure for home 136 



CHAPTER V. 

Col. Glenn's conversion — His profits thereby — Avenues to New 
Mexico — An instance of Spanish treachery and cruelty — 
Glenn's cowardice — Meeting with the Pawnees — Mexican 
Indians — Battle between the Pawnees and Osages — Disap- 
pearance of Glenn — Chouteau and the Osages — Indian re- 
venge — Passage of the Neosho — Singular Ferrying — En- 
trance into Missouri — Robbery by the Osages — Interview 
with Missionaries — Arrival at St, Louis — More of Glenn — 
Home — Still greater troubles with creditors than with the 
Indians 161 



CHAPTER VI. 

Endeavors to get out of debt — Proposition of John McKnight — 
Preparations for another expedition — Journey to the Arkan- 
sas — Ascent of the Canadian and North Fork — Hunting 
Bears, Elks, &c. — Fort commenced — Conversation with Mc- 
Knight and his departure in search of Camanches — Con- 
tinued ascent of the Canadian North Fork — A new Fort — 
Return of Potter and Iv}- — Robert McKnight goes out in 
search of his brother — He returns with Indians — Charges 
them with the murder of his brother — I go out to the Ca- 
manche village — Incidents there — A council — The One 
Eyed Chief — The whole band start for the Fort — A guard 
placed over me — Encampment — The One Eyed adopts me 
as his brother — He changes my relations with his tribe — 
Catching wild horses — Arrival at the Fort — Fright of some 
"brave" men — Trade — A robbery — The One Eyed pun- 
ishes the thieves — Fate of John McKnight — Mourning 
stopped — Indian customs — A dance — A case of arbitration 
by the One Eyed — Indian horsemanship — Parting with the 
Chiefs — Conversation with Alsarea — The horse Checoba — 
A Bucephalus 190 



CHAPTER VII. 

We start for home — A stampedo — Loss of a hundred horses — 
Interview with a Chief and his tribe — Pursued by Indians 
— Passage through the Cross Timbers — Death of horses by 
flies — Night travelling — Arrival at the Arkansas — Death of 
horses by the Farcy — Loss of skins and rohcs by embez- 
zlement — Start for home — Breakfast with a Cherokee Chief 
— James Rogers — An old Cherokee — Interview with Mis- 
sionaries — Arrival at home — Troubles from debt — An emer- 
gence at last — Conclusion 22S 



APPENDIX 

Biographical Sketch of the Mandan Chief, Shehaka 248 

Biographical Sketch of Nathaniel Pryor 249 

Articles of Agreement of St. Louis Missouri Fur Company 250 

Biographical Sketches of the Partners in the Fur Company — 

Benjamin Wilkinson 256 

Pierre Chouteau 256 

Manuel Lisa 257 

Auguste P. Chouteau 258 

Reuben Lewis 260 

William Clark 260 

Sylvestre Labbadle 261 

Pierre Menard 263 

William Morrison 263 

Andrew Henry 265 

Contract to Convey the Mandan Chief to His Home 266 

Contract between the Fur Company and Thomas James 271 

List of Deserters 272 

Biographical Sketch of Ramsay Crooks 273 

Letters of Pierre Chouteau to William Eustis, Secretary of 

War, 22 November and 14 December, 1809 278 

Biographical Sketch of John Colter 278 

Biographical Sketch of John Dougherty 279 

Letter of Andrew Henry to Francois Valle, 5 June, 1810 282 

Biographical Sketch of William Weir 283 

Interview with Pierre Menard, July, 1810 283 

Biographical Sketch of George Drouillard 285 

Notices of the Expedition of Smith, McLanahan and Others to 

Santa Fe in 1809, with a Letter of McLanahan's 286 

Biographical Sketch of James Baird 292 

Biographical Sketch of Jacques Clamorgan 293 

Biographical Sketch of Jules de Mun 294 

Obituary Notice of Matthew Lyon 295 

Bibliography 297 

Index 305 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

Chouteau, Auguste Pierre Page ■s.^6 ^ 

Chouteau, Pierre Page 39 V 

Clark, William Page 16 / 

Crooks, Ramsay Page 24 

Dougherty, John Page 69 

James, Thomas Frontispiece 

Labbadie, Sylvestre Page 38 ^ 

Lisa, Manuel Page 47 ^ 

Menard, Pierre Page 91 >/ 

O'Fallon, Benjamin Page 218 "^ 

Shehaka (opposite fac-simile title page) Page ii^- 

Valle, Francois Page 70 

Map of Mandan Country Page 33 v 



PREFACE. 

Amongst records of personal adventure this book 
of General James' will hold an assured place. The 
strange and romantic events which it relates, and the 
showing it makes of how the Missourians led the 
way into savage territory, which has become the 
home of peaceful and prosperous commonwealths, 
combine to give to it great and abiding Interest. The 
incidents here told, though as far removed from 
the possibilities of the present day as those of Jason 
and the Argonauts on their journey for the golden 
fleece, were of a kind which were not uncommon in 
the lives of our grandfathers. If the Missourians 
who went out from home in those days (and there 
were but few who did not go) to the West, the 
Northwest and the Southwest, had been skilled In 
recording their experiences and their observations, 
they could have made up a body of literature which 
would have rivalled in interest the collection of Hak- 
luyt. Unfortunately, few of the early Missourians 
were writers. They mostly combined the qualities 
of woodsmen and hunters, farmers and fighters, 
trappers and traders; they were brave and resource- 
ful, living their lives In the manner which they found 
most inviting without much thought beyond the pres- 
ent.^ Their training was In the hard school of ex- 
perience and their limitations, as a rule, were nar- 



row. There are many sources from which glimpses 
of their hves and adventures may be obtained, but 
connected narratives hke the one here printed are 
few in number. 

For most of the details of the expeditions of which 
he writes, General James is the sole authority, but 
some side lights upon them have been found, which 
are referred to in the notes or printed in the appen- 
dix. 

The book from which this reprint is made has 
been in the library of the Missouri Historical So- 
ciety for six or seven years. During that time care- 
ful search has been made for other copies without 
success. But one was heard of, and that one was 
sold in Philadelphia in 1912; who is its present pos- 
sessor has not been learned. The reason for the 
extreme rarity of the book will be suggested later. 

The author, Thomas James, of Welsh descent, 
was born in Maryland in 1782. His father, Joseph 
Austin James, and his mother, Elizabeth Hosten, 
with their family left Maryland in 1803 to look for 
a new home in the West. They stopped for a time 
in Kentucky and again in Illinois, reaching Missouri 
in 1807, where they established themselves near 
Florissant. At the time when he enlisted for the 
voyage up the Missouri, Thomas James was about 
twenty-seven years old. In Chapter III of his book 
James tells of his employments after his return from 
the upper Missouri. 

After his expedition to the Southwest, he engaged 
in mining, having bought and rebuilt what was known 



as Kinney's Mill on a spring branch a short distance 
southwest of the village of New Design in Monroe 
County, Illinois. The place was for a time known 
as James' Mills and later as Monroe City. In 1825 
he was elected a general in the Illinois militia, and 
about the same time to membership in the Illinois 
legislature, In which he served during the years 
1 826-1 828. In 1827 he was appointed postmaster 
at James' Mills, which position he held for many 
years. In the Black Hawk war he served as a 
Major, having under his command a "spy battal- 
ion," composed of three companies, led respectively 
by Captains Daniel Price and Peter Warren of 
Shelby County and Thomas Harrison of Monroe. 
In orders signed by Albert Sidney Johnston he is 
designated as Colonel James, from which It may be 
inferred that he held an independent command. At 
the close of the war he returned to his former em- 
ployments, and died at Monroe City In December, 
1847. 

The literary quality of James' book is of a higher 
grade than would be expected In the production of a 
man whose opportunities for school training were as 
scanty as his. The recognition of this fact prompted 
a letter of inquiry to Dr. John Francis Snyder, whose 
active brain Is a storehouse of Information as to the 
history of southern Illinois, and of southern Mis- 
souri as well, and from his reply the following Is 
quoted: "Though I saw General Thomas James 
on several occasions, and remember him well, I know 
nothing of his history or personahty. He was quite 



8 

an ordinary looking man, six feet tall, muscular, and 
of the pioneer or coon hunter type. But I do know 
something of his book. It was written in Belleville 
from his dictation by Judge, or Colonel, Nathaniel 
Niles. Niles was a New Yorker who came to Belle- 
ville in 1839 o'' 1840, a young penniless lawyer. For 
a while he taught school. I was one of his pupils 
about the time that he acted as amanuensis for Gen- 
eral James. Niles in time married and raised a fam- 
ily; he was a captain in Bissell's regiment at Buena 
Vista in 1847, and was elected to the legislature, then 
County Judge, and was colonel of the Fiftieth (I 
think) regiment of Illinois volunteers in the Civil 
war. He died at Belleville about six years ago. The 
book had barely been issued from the press when it 
was severely attacked by several newspapers — and 
I think the old Missouri Republican was one of them. 
Niles immediately suppressed it, gathered all the 
copies he could secure and destroyed them. For a 
long time it was a delicate subject to mention to him, 
but in later years when it was mentioned, he did not 
swear so much but regarded it as a good joke." 

The reason for the suppression of the book is not 
far to seek. General James was evidently a man of 
bitter prejudices and an unbridled tongue. His 
statements regarding the gentlemen connected with 
the Fur Company and regarding Colonel Glenn, even 
had they been true, were, to say the least, ill advised. 
But the Chouteaus, Lisa, Labbadie and the others 
composing the Fur Company were men of high char- 
acter, ranking among the best citizens of St. Louis, 



concerning whom James' accusations were entitled 
to and could obtain no credence whatsoever. Colonel 
Glenn is not so well known, but the mention made of 
him by others is always in terms of respect; the 
charges here made against him should be considered 
as introduced for dramatic effect only. And the Mis- 
sionaries, whom James pictures as such undesirable 
citizens, are, in default of other evidence, entitled 
at the least to a suspension of judgment. Colonel 
Glenn was dead when the book was published, but 
in St. Louis there were many persons who would 
have been quick to resent such statements as James 
there made about their kinsmen, and it is not sur- 
prising that the book was promptly withdrawn from 
circulation. 

Whether or not these statements should preclude 
the reprinting of the book, even at this late date, has 
been much debated, but it has been decided that the 
lapse of years has deprived James' ill-natured ac- 
cusations of all power to offend; and that the merits 
of the book are such as ensure its vitality. 

James' attitude towards the Indians, from whom 
he suffered so much, is in surprising contrast to that 
which he takes towards the whites. Of the latter, 
John McKnight is the only one of whom he speaks 
in terms of affection. 

For the Indians, whether he looks upon them as 
"Chiefs with the dignity of Real Princes, and the 
eloquence of real orators, and Braves with the valor 
of the ancient Spartans," or as "simple children of 
the mountains and prairies," he shows kindness, lik- 



10 



ing and admiration. While their faults are not over- 
looked, they are mostly attributed to the evil influ- 
ences of the whites. 

The Waterloo "War Eagle," at the office of 
which James' book was printed, was a weekly news- 
paper, edited, published and most likely printed by 
Elam Rust at Waterloo, Illinois. Rust issued his 
first newspaper at Waterloo in the spring of 1843 
under the name of "The Independent Democrat." 
In 1845, he changed its name to the "War Eagle," 
but the Eagle was not long lived, and the publica- 
tion of the paper ceased about the year 1847. 

Grateful acknowledgment and thanks are due to 
many friends for valuable and kindly suggestions 
and assistance, and especially to Miss Stella M. 
Drumm, Librarian of the Missouri Historical So- 
ciety, whose store of accurate knowledge has been an 
unfaihng resource. To Miss Drumm belongs, also, 
the credit for the index, which is entirely her work. 

W. B. D. 
Spot. 

Florissant, 23 September, 19 16. 




SHE-HA-KA. 



From McKenney and Hall's 
iHan Trihes of Noi-tli Atneria 



THREE YEARS AMONG 



THE 



INDIANS AND MEXICANS. 



BY GEN. THOMAS JA]»IES, 

OF MONROE COUMTV) ILLINOIS* 



Waterloo, ILL. 

PfilKTED AT TUi OFFICE OF TilE «WAR EAGLfiJ* 
184G. 



CHAPTER ONE 

Introduction — Missouri Fur Company — Terms of Engagement With 
Them — Departure for the Trapping Grounds — Incidents on the 
Route — The Pork Meeting — Scenery — Cheek, a Western Pioneer 
— His Affair With the Irishman — A Hunting Excursion — The 
Rickarees — The Mandans — The Gros-Ventres — The Company's 
Fort — Cheek and Ried — Friends Between the French and Amer- 
icans — Violation of Contract by Company — Departure for Up- 
per Missouri — Wintering — Trip Across the Country — Famine 
and Cold — Scenery on the Yellow Stone — Manuel's Fort — Col. 
Menard and Manuel Liza — Indian Murders — A Snow Storm In 
the Mountains — Blindness — Arrival at the Forks of the Mis- 
souri — Preparations for Business. 

I HAVE often amused myself and friends, by re- 
lating stories of my adventures in the West, and 
am led to believe, by the, perhaps, too partial repre- 
sentations of those friends, that my life in the 
Prairies and Mountains for three years, is worthy of 
a record more enduring than their memories. I 
have passed a year and a half on the head w^aters of 
the Missouri and among the gorges of tl e Rocky 
Mountains as a hunter and a trapper, and two years 
among the Spaniards and Camanches. I have suf- 
fered much from the inclemency of nature and of 
man, had many "hair breadth 'scapes'' and acquired 
considerable information illustrative of Indian and 
Mexican character and customs. By a plain, unvar- 
nished tale of Western life, of perils and of hard- 
ships, I hope to amuse the reader who delights in ac- 
counts of wild adventure, though found out of the 

13 



14 

pages of a novel and possessing no attraction but 
their unadorned truthfulness. I am now on the 
shady side of sixty, with mind and memory unim- 
paired. If my reminiscences, as recorded in the fol- 
lowing pages, serve to awaken my countrymen of the 
West and South-west, now thank God, including 
Texas, to the importance of peaceful and friendly 
relations with the most powerful tribe of Indians on 
the continent, the Camanches, I shall not regard the 
labor of preparing these sheets as bestowed in vain. 
In the year 1803, when twenty-two years of age, 
I emigrated with my father from Kentucky to Illi- 
nois. In the spring of 1807 we removed from Illi- 
nois to Missouri, which were then, both Territories, 
and settled in the town of St. Ferdinand,^ near St. 
Louis. In the fall of this year,- Lewis and Clark 

1 St. Ferdinand (San Fernando) is a village about seventeen miles 
northwestwardly from St. Louis. While its legal name is St. Ferd- 
inand it is known colloquially as Florissant and the post office bears 
that name. A grant of land at this place was made in 1782 to 
Francois Dunnegant dit Beaurosier of St. Louis. Col. Auguste Chou- 
teau testified in 1808, "that about the year 1786 Dunnegant was ap- 
pointed commandant of St. Ferdinand, and continued so from that 
time until the American Government took place; that from 1782 un- 
til Dunnegant was appointed commandant the Indians were trouble- 
some and there were orders for the inhabitants of this country not to 
settle out of the towns." 

The settlement of the village seems to have begun, however, in 
1785, and the census of 1787 shows a population of forty-one per- 
sons; in 1910 there were seven hundred and sixty-five. There were 
few of the Florissant Creole families of early days who did not send 
representatives to the far west, where they acquired more or less 
distinction as "mountain-men," and their names yet survive as place 
names in the mountain states. 

2 Lewis and Clark on their return arrived at St. Louis, 23 Septem- 
ber, 1806. James is consistent in adhering to the date here given in 
the text, but in other places the liberty has been taken of substituting 
the correct date. 



15 

returned from Oregon and the Pacific Ocean, whither 
they had been sent by the administration of Jefferson 
in the first exploring expedition west of the Rocky 
Mountains, and their accounts of that wild region, 
with those of their companions, first excited a spirit 
of trafficking adventure among the young men of the 
West. They had brought with them from the Up- 
per Missouri, a Chief named Shehaka,^ of the Man- 
dan tribe of Indians. This Chief, in company with 
Lewis and Clark visited the "Great Father" at Wash- 
ington City, and returned to St. Louis in the follow- 
ing Spring (1807) with Lewis, who, in the mean 
time had been appointed Governor of Missouri Ter- 
ritory. He sent the Chief Shehaka up the Missouri 
with an escort of about forty United States troops, 
under Capt. Prior.* On their arrival in the country 
of the Rickarees,^ a warlike tribe, next East or this 
side of the Mandans, they were attacked by the for- 
mer tribe, and eight or ten soldiers killed. This 
event so disheartened the rest, that they returned 
with Shehaka to St. Louis. The Missouri Fur Com- 
pany had just been formed, and they projected an 
expedition up the Missouri and to the Rocky Moun- 

3 For sketch of Shehaka, see Appendix. 

■* For sketch of Nathaniel Pryor, see Appendix. 

^ The Rickaree or Arikara village was situated on the right (or 
north) shore of the Missouri, in a bend where the stream runs 
nearly westwardly, about six miles above the mouth of the Grand 
(or We-tar-hoo) river, in what appears on late maps as Corson 
County, South Dakota. A good account of the Arikaras may be 
found in Dr. Hodge's Handbook of American Indians. When they 
were first visited by white people they were friendly, but the con- 
duct of the whites engendered in them a bitter and persistent hostil- 
ity. See Journal of Jean Baptiste Trudeau among the Arikara In- 
dians in 1795, 4 Missouri Historical Society Collections, 9. 



i6 



tains, which was to start in the spring of the follow- 
ing year, 1809. The company consisted of ten part- 
ners, among whom was M. Gratiot, Pierre Menard, 
Sam'l. Morrison, Pierre Chouteau, Manuel Liza, 
Major Henry, M. L'Abbadeau and Reuben Lewis. 
Gov. Lewis was also said to have had an interest in 
the concern. "^ The company contracted with him to 
convey the Mandan Chief to his tribe, for the sum, 
as I was informed of $10,000.^ I enlisted in this 
expedition, which was raised for trading with the 
Indians and trapping for beaver on the head waters 
of the Missouri and Columbia rivers. The whole 
party, at starting, consisted of 350 men,^ of whom 
about one half were Americans and the remainder 
Canadian Frenchmen and Creoles of Kaskaskia, St. 
Louis and other places. The French were all vet- 
eran voyageiirs, thoroughly inured to boating and 
trapping. Manuel Liza, called by the men "Esaw" 
had enlisted many of them in Detroit for this expe- 
dition, and hired them by the year. We Americans 

^ The partners in the Fur Company were Benjamin Wilkinson, 
Pierre Chouteau,' Manuel Lisa, Auguste P. Chouteau, Reuben Lewis, 
William Clark, Sylvestre Labbadie, Pierre Menard, William Mor- 
rison and Andrew Henry, biographical sketches of whom will be 
found in the Appendix. The name of Dennis Fitzhugh of Louisville, 
the third husband of Clark's youngest sister, Fanny, is inserted in 
the articles of association, but he never became a partner. A copy 
of the articles is given in the Appendix. 

^ A copy of the contract for the return of Shehaka is given in the 
Appendix. 

^ The following letter from Lisa gives the number of men and 
boats: "Osage River, 24 June, 1809. 

Gen. Clark, St. Louis. This is my last moment to write to you 
and inform you of the situation we found ourselves in at the mo- 
ment. Wc are starting with 172 men, nine barges and a canoe. Col- 
lins and Cochran have just deserted. My respects to Governor 
Lewis. Your humble servant, Manuel Lisa." 




From copy, by Albert Rosenthal, of portrait in Independence Hall, 
presented to Missouri Historical Society by G, A. Pfeiffer. Esq. 



I? 

were all private adventurers, each on his own hook, 
and were led into the enterprise by the promises of 
the company, who agreed to subsist us to the trap- 
ping grounds, we helping to navigate the boats, and 
on our arrival there they were to furnish us each 
with a rifle and sufficient ammunition, six good 
beaver traps and also four men of their hired French, 
to be under our individual commands for a period of 
three years. By the terms of the contract each of 
us was to divide one-fourth of the profits of our 
joint labor with the four men thus to be appointed to 
us. How we were deceived and taken in, will be 
seen in the sequel. The "company" made us the 
fairest promises in St. Louis, only to break them in 
the Indian country. Liza, or Esaw, or Manuel as 
he was variously called,- had the principal command. 
He was a Spaniard or Mexican by birth, and bore a 
very bad reputation in the country and among the 
Americans. He had been on the head waters of the 
Missouri, the year before with a company of about 
fifty men and had met with great success in catching 
beaver and trading with the Indians. He had built 
a Fort, called "Manuel's Fort" at the junction or 
fork of the Big Horn and Yellow Stone rivers, and 
left a garrison of hunters in it when he returned in 
the Spring of this year, and went into the Missouri 
Fur Company. He was suspected of having invited 
the Rickarees to attack the Government troops under 
Capt. Prior, with Shehaka the year before, for the 

9 For copy of James' contract with the company see Appendix. 



i8 [1809] 

purpose of preventing the traders and trappers who 
were with the troops from getting into the upper 
country. Mr. Chouteau and Col. Menard acted 
jointly with Liza in conducting the expedition. I 
went as steersman" or "captain" of one of the 
barges, with about twenty-four men, all Americans, 
under my command. There were thirteen barges 
and keel boats in all. On my barge I had Doct. 
Thomas," the surgeon of the company, and Reuben 
Lewis, brother of Merryweather Lewis, the Gov- 
ernor. 

We started from St. Louis in the month of June, 
A. D. 1809, and ascended the Missouri by rowing, 
pushing with poles, cordeling, or pulling with ropes, 
warping, and sailing. My crew were light hearted, 
jovial men, with no care or anxiety for the future, 
and little fear of any danger. In the morning we 
regularly started by day break and stopped gener- 
ally, late at night. The partners or boiirgoises, as 
the French called them, were in the forward barge, 
with a strong crew of hardy and skillful voyageurs, 
and there Liza and some of his colleagues lorded it 

10 " — the steersman or patron is commander of the boat's crew ; he 
is generally the strongest man of the party of which he constitutes 
himself officer, volunteering to fight any one who offers to supercede 
him." (1847-8) John Palliser, The Solitary Hunter, London, 1856. 

"Reuben Lewis commands the boat in which the Americans are 
together; two men for one oar and they still complain. I am fear- 
ful that more will desert and that we will be obliged to leave an- 
other boat." Lisa to Clark, 2 July, 1809. 

The presence of an owner in a boat did not exclude the authority 
of the steersman or patroon. 

^1 Of Dr. Thomas nothing further is learned except, from the men- 
tion in the Louisiana Gazette that he returned to St. Louis with 
Pierre Chouteau, reaching there 20 November, 1809. 



[i809] 19 

over the poor fellows most arrogantly, and made 
them work as if their lives depended on their getting 
forward, with the greatest possible speed. They 
peremptorily required all the boats to stop in com- 
pany for the night, and our barge being large and 
heavily loaded, the crew frequently had great diffi- 
culty in overtaking them in the evening. We oc- 
casionally had races with some of the forward 
barges, in which my crew of Americans proved them- 
selves equal in a short race to their more experienced 
French competitors. We thus continued, with noth- 
ing of interest occurring till we passed the Platte.* 
Six weeks of hard labor on our part, had been spent, 
when our allotted provisions gave out and we were 
compelled to Hve on boiled corn without salt. At 
the same time all the other boats were well supplied 
and the gentlemen proprietors in the leading barge 
were faring in the most sumptuous and luxurious 
manner. The French hands were much better 
treated on all occasions than the Americans. The 
former were employed for a long period at stated 
wages and were accustomed to such service and such 
men as those in command of them, while we were 
private adventurers for our own benefit, as well as 
that of the company, who regarded us with suspicion 
and distrust. Many Americans on the passage up 
the river, disgusted with the treatment they received, 
fell off in small companies and went back.^^ At Cote 

12 A list of the deserters appears in the Appendix. 



20 [1809] 

Sans Desans,^^ opposite the mouth of the Osage, 
most of them returned. On reaching the Mandan 
country we numbered about ten Americans, having 
started from St. Louis with about one hundred and 
seventy-five and an equal number of French. After 
passing the Platte river^* my crew were worn down 
with hard labor and bad fare. Their boiled corn 
without salt or meat, did not sustain them under the 
fatigue of navigating the barge and the contrast be- 
tween their treatment and that of the French en- 
raged them. A meeting was the result. The Com- 
pany had, on our barge, thirty barrels of pork, and 
one morning my crew came to me in a body demand- 
ing some of these provisions. I commanded them 

13 "The Cote sans Desse'in, is a beautiful place situated on the n. e. 
side of the river and in sight of the Osage. It will, in time, become 
a considerable village. The beauty and fertility of the surrounding 
country, cannot be surpassed. It is here that we met with the first 
appearance of prairie, on the Missouri, but it is handsomely mixed 
with wood land. The wooded country, on the n. e. extends at least, 
thirty miles, as far up as this place, and not less than fifteen on the 
other side. The name is given to this place, from the circumstances 
of a single detached hill, filled with lime stone, standing on the 
bank of the river, about six hundred yards long and very narrow. 
The village has been established about three years; there are thir- 
teen French families and two or three of Indians. They have hand- 
some fields in the prairie, but the greater part of their time is spent 
in hunting. From their eager inquiries after marchandise, I per- 
ceived we were already remote from the settlements." H. M. Brack- 
en ridge. Journal of a Voyage up the Missouri River, in 1811, Pitts- 
burgh, 1816, p. 209. 

Cote Sans Dessein is in Callaway County. It has but few more 
inhabitants at present than it had in 1811. There is a larger vil- 
lage a short distance to the eastward, which bears the euphonious 
name of Tebbetts. 

1* A Missouri voyageur who had never passed the Platte was 
called a blanc-hec; and upon his first passing he was subjected to an 
initiation, such as used to be given to sailors when they first crossed 
the equator. 



[1809] 21 

not to break into the pork without permission, and 
promised, if they would work and keep up till noon, 
to procure some for dinner. At noon when we 
stopped, the men rolled up a barrel of pork on to 
the deck and one of them, named Cheek^^ bestrided 
it with a tomahawk, crying out "give the word Cap- 
tain." I forbade them, as before, and went ashore 
to find Lewis, who had left the boat at the beginning 
of trouble. He said the pork was the Company's 
and told me not to touch it. I said the men would 
and should have some of it, and went back to the 
boat to give the "word" to Cheek. Lewis hastened 
to the "bourgeoise" in their barge close by, to give 
the alarm. I could see them in their cabin, from 
the shore where I stood, playing cards and drinking. 
Lewis entered with the news that "James' crew were 
taking the provisions." Manuel Liza seized his pis- 
tols and ran out followed by the other partners. 
"What the devil, said he to me, is the matter with 
you and your men?" We are starving, said I, and 
we must have something better than boiled corn. At 
the same time Cheek was brandishing his tomahawk 
over the pork barrel and clamoring for the "word." 
"Shall I break it open Captain, speak the word," he 
cried, while the rest of my crew were drawn up in 
line on the boat, with rifles, ready for action. The 
gentlemen boiirgeoise, yielded before this determined 

1^ James Cheek has left no discoverable record of his existence 
outside of this book and Col. Menard's letter (printed in Chitten- 
den's American Fur Trade) and interview (printed in the Appen- 
dix) ; though the family name is found in St. Louis and other parts 
of the State at about this time. 



22 [1809] 

array, and gave us a large supply of pork; that is, as 
much as we pleased to take. A few days after this 
we stopped to clean out the barges and the pork in 
ours was removed to another and its place supplied 
with lead. The Cheek who figured as ring-leader on 
this occasion was a Tennesseean, about six feet high 
and well proportioned. His courage was equal to 
any enterprise, and his rashness and head-strong ob- 
stinacy at last, in the Indian country, cost him his life. 
I had on my barge a large, lazy, and very imperti- 
nent Irishman,^^ who was frequently very sulky and 
remiss in his duties. I was compelled one day, to call 
him by name for not working at the oars, saying to 
him he was not rowing the weight of his head. The 
heighth of disgrace among boatmen is to be publicly 
named by the Captain. The Irishman took my 
treatment in very ill humor and swore he would have 
satisfaction for the insult. When the boat stopped 
for breakfast, the men dispersed as usual, to get 
wood, and with them went Cheek and my friend, the 
Irishman. Cheek returned without him and in- 
formed me, he had whipped him "for saucing the 
captain." I said, "Cheek I can attend to my own 
fighting without your assistance, or any other man's." 
"No by G — d," said he, "my Captain shan't fight 
while I am about." The Irishman returned, at 
length, to the boat, but was so badly hurt as to be 
unable to work for several days. 

The scenery of the Upper Missouri is so familiar 
to the world as to render any particular description 

1^ See mention of the Irishman in note 24 to this chapter. 



[1809] 23 

unnecessary. As you ascend the river, the woods 
diminish in number and extent. Beyond Council 
Bluffs, about 700 miles above the mouth they entirely 
disappear, except on the river bottoms, which are 
heavily timbered. The Prairies were covered with 
a short thick grass, about three or four inches high. 
At this time the game was very abundant. We saw 
Elk and Buffalo in vast numbers, and killed many of 
them. Prairie dogs and wolves were also very 
numerous. The Indians have thinned off the game 
since that time, so much that their own subsistence is 
frequently very scanty, and they are often in danger 
of starvation. Their range of hunting now extends 
far down into the Camanche country and Texas, and 
the buffalo, their only game of importance, are fast 
disappearing. When these valuable animals are all 
gone, when they are extinct on the West as they are 
on the East side of the Mississippi, then will the In- 
dian race, the aboriginals of that vast region, be near 
their own extinction and oblivion. They cannot sur- 
vive the game and with it will disappear. 

The Western declivity of the Mississippi valley 
from the mountains to the "Father of Waters" is 
nearly all one great plain, with occasional rocky ele- 
vations. We saw hills at the foot of which were 
large heaps of pumice stone, which had the appear- 
ance of having been crumbled off from above by the 
action of fire. 

The scenery of Illinois or Missouri^" is a fair ex- 

_ 1^ Speaking of Missouri in 1819, Schoolcraft says: "A great por- 
tion of the lands in this Territory are of the richest kind, producing 



24 [1809] 

ample of that of the whole country West to the 
mountains. The Prairies here, however, are vaster 
and more desolate. One extensive plain is usually 
presented to the eye of the traveller, and stretches 
to the horizon, without a hill, mound, tree or shrub 
to arrest the sight. 

We continued our ascent of the river without any 
occurrence of importance. Below Council Bluffs we 
met Capt. Crooks, ^^ agent for John J. Astor, and 
who was trading with the Mohaws. Here all the 
few Americans remaining, with myself, were on the 
point of returning. By the solicitations and prom- 
ises of the Company we were induced to continue 
with them. 

The first Indians we saw were a party of Mohaws 
hunting; with them were two Sioux Chiefs. They 
sent forward a runner to their village above, and 

corn, wheat, rye, oats, flax, hemp and tobacco, in great abundance 
and in great perfection. ... As you recede from the banks of 
the river the land rises, passing, sometimes by almost imperceptable 
gradations, and sometimes very abruptly, into elevated barren, flinty 
ridges and rocky cliffs. A portion of the Territory is, therefore, un- 
fit for cultivation, but still serves as the matrix of numerous ores, 
which are distributed abundantly in the hills and mountains of the 
interior. There is very little land of an intermediate quality. It is 
either very rich or very poor; it is either bottom land of cliff, prairie 
or barren ; it is a deep black marl or a high bluff rock ; and the trans- 
ition is often so sudden as to produce scenes of the most pictur- 
esque beauty. Hence the traveller in the interior is often surprisd to 
behold at one view, cliffs and prairies, bottoms and barrens, naked 
hills, heavy forests, rocks, streams, and plains all succeeding each 
other with rapidity, and mingled with the most pleasing harmony. 
I have contemplated such scenes, while standing on some lofty blufli 
in the wilderness of Missouri, with unmixed delight; while the deer, 
the elk and the buffalo, were grazing quietly on the plains below." 
Scenes and Adventures in the Semi Alpine Region of the Ozark 
Mountains of Missouri and Arkansas, p. 223. 
18 For sketch of Ramsay Crooks, see Appendix. 




Courtesy of Ckrence M. Burton, Esi 



[i8o9] 25 

themselves came on board our boats. We found the 
village at the mouth of the Jacques river/^ perhaps 
twelve hundred miles, by its course, from the mouth 
of the Missouri. They were of the Teton tribe, 
which is kindred with the Sioux. As we approached 
the bank, which was lined with hundreds; they fired 
Into the water before the forward barge, and as we 
landed, they retreated with great rapidity, making a 
startling noise with whistles and rattles. After landing 
and making fast the boats, about fifty savages took 
charge of them, as a guard. They wore raven feath- 
ers on the head. Their bodies were naked, save 
about the middle, and painted entirely black. They 
presented on the whole a most martial and warlike 
appearance In their savage mode, and performed 
their office of guarding the boats so well that not 
even a Chief was allowed to go onto them. Other 
Indians came with buffalo skins to be used as pulan- 
quins or litters for carrying the partners to their 
council house; each was taken up and carried off In 
state. I was compelled by some Indians to go In 
the same style to the place of council. Here was a 
large company of old men awaiting us, and for din- 
ner we had served up a great feast of dog's meat — 
a great delicacy with the Indians. The rich repast 
was served In forty-one wooden bowls, as I counted 

13 Jacques river, now called James (and colloquially the Jim) 
river, rises in the central part of North Dakota, and follows in the 
main a direction east of south, and enters the Missouri in Yankton 
County, South Dakota, about ten miles below the city of Yankton. 
Its mouth, according to Lewis and Clark, is nine hundred and fifty 
miles above the mouth of the Missouri. It was named after an early 
voyageur or trader from St. Louis. 



26 [1809] 

them, and from each bowl a dog's foot was hanging 
out, evidently to prove that this rarity was not a 
sham but a reality. Not feeling very desirous of 
eating of this particular dainty, I stole out and was 
pulled by a young Indian and invited to his wigwam. 
I went and partook with him of buffalo meat. We 
stayed with these hospitable savages two days. On 
arriving, we found the British flag flying, but easily 
persuaded them to haul it down. The Hudson's Bay 
Company had had their emissaries among them and 
were then dealing with them precisely as they are 
now dealing with the savages in our territory of 
Oregon — namely : buying them up with presents and 
promises, and persuading them to act as allies of 
Britain, in any future war with the United States. On 
the third day we left the friendly Tetons and pro- 
ceeded up the river as before. 

Capt. Chouteau had conceived a prejudice against 
Cheek, and on one occasion, ordered him to leave 
the boats. Lewis conveyed the order to me. I re- 
monstrated against the cruelty of sending a man 
adrift in a wilderness, 1400 miles from home. He 
insisted, and Cheek took his gun as if he was going 
to obey. Lewis ordered him to leave the gun be- 
hind, which he refused to do. Lewis then com- 
manded me to take it from him. I replied, that he 
or Chouteau might do that themselves. The men of 
my boat flew to their arms, and avowed their deter- 
mination of defending Cheek and sharing his fate. 
The order was not pursued any further. Such ren- 
contres and difl'iculties between the Americans and 



[i8o9] 27 

the partners, embittered their hands against us, and 
ultimately did us no good. Much of the ill treat- 
ment we afterwards received from them, was prob- 
ably owing to the reckless assertion of our inde- 
pendence on every occasion and at every difficulty 
that occurred. After leaving the Teton village, our 
boat again failed of provisions, and by request of 
Lewis I went ashore on the North bank with one of 
our best hunters, named Brown,-*' to kill some game. 
We went up the river, and in the evening, killed an 
elk, brought it to the river bank, and waited there for 
the boats till morning. They came up on the oppo- 
site shore and sent over a canoe to take us and our 
game across. The wind rose in the mean time, and 
blew so strong as to raise the waves very high, and 
render it dangerous for us all to cross together in 
the same canoe. We sent over the game and Brown 
and myself continued our course, afoot, expecting to 
get aboard when the boats crossed at some one of 
the river bends. By the middle of the day the wind 
had risen so high that the boats, with sails hoisted, 
quickly went out of sight. We travelled on till eve- 
ning, and struck a large bayou, which we could not 

20 There was a William Brown living with John Sullens at Bon- 
homme settlement St. Louis District in 1805, and about the same time 
a W Iham Brown from St. Philips, South Carolina, sold two negroes 
in St. Louis The name appears in the list of Lisa's engage^es in 
X8X2-1813. In the St. Louis Directory of 1831, William Brown i^ 
hsted as a pump-maker on South H. Street above Third. "Boatswain 
Brown" was killed on the Colorado river by the "Amuchabas^ n 
August 1827, under the leadership of Jedediah S. Smith. The p rob" 
ability IS that the Brown living with Sullens, Lisa's engage^llA 
James companion were the same person. That he came from South 

nn Jkm'; "■',' ' P^'^P-^^ker, and a member of Smith's party is a 
possibility only, fiiij- is « 



28 [i809] 

cross, and took the backward course till we encamped 
within a mile of the spot where we had stayed the 
night before. The next morning we struck off from 
the river into the prairie and took the best course we 
could, to reach the boats. Seven days elapsed, how- 
ever, before we overtook them. The wind blew a 
strong breeze, and drove the boats along very rap- 
idly. We killed another elk and some small game, 
which subsisted us till the fifth day, when our ammu- 
nition gave out. Our moccasins being worn out, fell 
off and our feet were perfectly cut up by the prickly 
pear, which abounds on these prairies. At last, 
nearly famished and worn down, sore, lame and ex- 
hausted, we found the boats. My crew had, In vain, 
requested leave to wait for us, and we might have 
perished before the bourgeoise would have slackened 
their speed in the least, on our account. We had a 
narrow escape from starvation in this excursion, and 
I was ever afterwards careful to have plenty of am- 
munition with me when I went out — as I frequently 
did — on similar expeditions. 

In two days after this event, we arrived at the 
country of the Rickarees. On approaching their vil- 
lage, we took precautions against an attack. A guard 
marched along the shore, opposite to the boats, well 
armed. My crew composed a part of this force. 
When within half a mile of the village we drew up 
the cannon and prepared to encamp. The whole vil- 
lage came out in a body, as it seemed, to meet us. 
They had not come far toward us when an old chief 
rode out at full speed and with violent gestures and 



[1809] 29 

exclamations, warned and motioned back his coun- 
trymen from before our cannon. The event of the 
year before was fresh in his recollection. He sup- 
posed we were about to inflict a proper and deserved 
punishment for the attack on Capt. Prior's troops 
and the murder of eight 'or ten of them, the year be- 
fore. This old chief drove back all who were com- 
ing out to meet us. Capt. Chouteau then sent for 
the chief to come down to his camp and hold a coun- 
cil. They refused to comply with this request and 
appeared very suspicious of our designs. After fur- 
ther negotiation, they agreed to come to us and hold 
a council if the company's force would lay aside 
their arms and turn the cannon in the opposite direc- 
tion. This was agreed to by the Company, with the 
provision that a guard should be on the ground, 
armed, during the conference. The council wasj 
held, and Chouteau'' harangued them on the crime' 
committed against the government the year before. 
They promised better conduct for the future, but 
made no reparation or apology even, for the past. 

In a few days we started forward through a coun- 
try marked by the same general features as that de- 
scribed before. Thousands of buffalo covered the 
prairies on both sides of the river, making them 
black as far as the eye could reach. In ten or twelve 
days the boats reached the Mandan^^ village, where 

21 "These Indians live in settled villages fortified with palisades, 
which they seldom ever abandon ; and they are the best hunsband- 
men in the whole north west. They raise Indian corn or maize, 
beans, pumpkins and squashes in considerable quantity, not only suf- 
ficient to supply their own wants, with the help of the buffalo, but 



30 [1809] 

I was awaiting them. I had sallied out five days be- 
fore in a hunting excursion, and arrived at the vil- 
lage of the Mandans in advance of the boats. These 
are a poor, thieving, spiritless tribe, tributary to the 
Gros- Ventres, who inhabit the country above them on 
the river. The village is on the north side of the 
river. The boats came up on the opposite shore. 
The wind, as they arrived, blew a hurricane and 
lashed the waves to a prodigious height. The In- 
dians saw their chief, Shehaka, on our boats, and 
were almost frantic with joy and eagerness to speak 
with him. They have a round canoe made of hoops 
fastened together and a buffalo's skin stretched over 
them, very light and portable. With these they 
rowed themselves across the turbulent river, one 
moment lost from view between the waves, and the 
next, riding over them like corks. In these tubs of 
canoes they crossed the stream to our boats. The 
natives made a jubilee and celebration for the return 
of Shehaka and neglected every thing and every 

also to sell and give away to all strangers that enter their villages. 
They are the mildest and most honest Indians upon the whole con- 
tinent, and, withal, very fond of the white people." John McDon- 
nell, Some Account of the Red River, in i Masson, Les Bourgeois de 
la Compagnie du Nord-Ouest, p. 272. In Maximilian's Travels in 
the Interior of North America there is an interesting chapter on the 
Mandans. It was at one time believed by some that they were de- 
scended from Welsh people who came to America in pre Columbian 
time. In 1837, almost the whole nation died of small pox (see ac- 
count in Audubon's Missouri River Journals), and it is said that in 
1905 it numbered only 249 persons. 
1 A letter of Pierre Chouteau to William Eustis, Secretary of War, 
dated St. Louis 22 November 1809, says that the writer returned to 
St. Louis two days before; that he delivered Shehaka and his wife 
and children and the interpreter and his family to their people on 
the 24th day of September last. 



[i8o9] 31 

body else. They hardly saw or took the least notice 
of their white visitors. The partners distributed the 
presents sent by the government and we then made 
haste to leave this boorish, inhospitable tribe. We 
ascended the Missouri to the village of the Gros- 
Ventres," on the south side of the river, fifteen miles 
above that of the Mandans. Here we found a far 
different race from the last; a manly, warlike and 
independent tribe, who might well be called for their 
daring and enterprising qualities, the Gros-coeurs or 
big hearts instead of big-bellies. Here was our place 
of stopping for a short time and of preparation for 
the business which had brought us hither. On our ar- 
rival at their village, four or five agents of the Hud- 
son's Bay Company were among them, but imme- 
diately crossed the river with their goods, and bore 
off to the northeast. We suspected them of inciting 
the Black Feet against us and many of our company 

-- "The Minitarees are a noble and interesting people. They are 
most absurdly termed Grosventres by the French traders, there being 
not the slightest foundation for branding them with that epithet." 
John Palliser, The Solitary Hunter, London, 1856. Palliser was on 
the upper Missouri in 1848. 

"We were not so well received at this village [the Minitaree great 
village on the Knife River] as at the Mandanes; no attention was 
shown us after conducting us to the hut where the white people 
lodged. They do not appear to be of such sociable and affable dis- 
position as their neighbors; they are proud and haughty, and think 
that there is no race upon earth equal to themselves; they despise 
other nations. Were it not that they must have traders to bring 
them the arms and ammunition of which they stand in such great 
need, being surrounded by enemies, a white man would stand a poor 
chance for his life and property among this set of savages, whose 
sole glory is in bloodshed and devastation, . . . upon the whole 
they appeared to me to be a fierce and savage set of scoundrels, still 
more loose and licentious than the Mandanes." Alexander Henry 
the Younger, 1806. Journals of Henry and Thompson (Coues' edi- 
tion), New York, 1897. 



32 [i809] 

attributed our subsequent misfortunes to their hos- 
tility. We afterwards heard that a large army of 
these Indians were encamped at the falls above. 
They traded regularly with the British traders and 
procured of them their arms and ammunition. We 
built a fort^^ near the Gros- Ventres village, and un- 
loaded all the larger boats for the purpose of send- 
ing them back to the settlements. Having now ar- 
rived at our destination and being near the beaver 
region, we, the Americans, ten in number, requested 
the partners to furnish our traps, ammunition, guns 
and men, according to contract. But this, they seemed 
to have forgotten entirely, or intended never to ful- 
fil. We found ourselves taken in, cheated, chizzled, 
gulled and swindled in a style that has not, perhaps, 
been excelled by Yankees or French, or men of any 
other nation, at any time in the thirty-six years that 
have passed over my head since this feat was per- 

23 "The fort consisted of a square block house, the lower part of 
■which was a room for furs; the upper part was inhabited by Mr. 
Lewis and some of the hunters belonging to the establishment. There 
were some small outhouses, and the whole was surrounded by a pal- 
lisado, or picquet, about fifteen feet high. I found attached to it a 
very pretty garden, in which were peas, beans, sallad, radishes and 
other vegetables, under the care of a gardener, an Irishman, who 
shewed it to me with much self-importance. I praised his manage- 
ment, but expressed my regret that he had no potatoes, 'Oh!' said 
he, 'that does not signify; we can soon have them; there is pleanty 
just over the way.' I did not think the man was serious; but on 
mentioning the circumstances to Mr. Lewis, he told me that there 
really were potatoes at an English Fort in the river St. Peters, only 
from two to 300 miles distant." Bradbury, Travels in the Interior 
of America, Liverpool, 1817, p. 143. Bradbury was at the fort in 
181 1. The Mr. Lewis spoken of was Reuben Lewis. Bradbury, who 
rode from the Arikara post to the fort in 18 11 says that it was seven 
miles from the third Minitaree village; Chittenden says that it was 
twelve miles. According to the map the latter seems to be correct. 



[i8o9] 



33 



H 










formed. A stock of old and worthless traps had 
been brought up the river, apparently to be put off 
on the Americans. They offered us these traps, 



34 [1809] 

which we refused to take. They then endeavored to 
deprive us of the arms and ammunition belonging to 
them, in our possession, and they succeeded in getting 
from most of us all the guns and powder of theirs 
that we had. Mine were taken from me with the 
others, by order of the partners. I do not know that 
all of them consented to this nefarious proceeding; I 
hope and should have expected that several of them 
would not sanction such conduct. But I heard of no 
protest or opposition to the acts of the majority, 
who behaved toward us with a want of principle and 
of honor that would shame most gentleman robbers 
of the highway. They seemed determined to turn 
us out on the prairie and among the Indians, with- 
out arms, provisions or ammunition. Our situation 
in that event, would have nearly realized the one im- 
plied in the popular expression "a cat in hell with- 
out claws." We were kept waiting two or three 
weeks without employment or any provisions, except 
what we purchased at most exorbitant prices. We 
bought goods, knives, &c. of the company, on credit, 
and sold them to the Indians for provisions and in 
this way were rapidly running in debt, which the com- 
pany expected us to discharge to them in beaver fur. 
Their object was to make the most out of us with- 
out regard to their previous professions and prom- 
ises. Finding myself, like most of my comrades, des- 
titute of all means of support and sustenance, of de- 
fence and offence, I looked around for something by 
which I could live in that wild region. On arriving 
at the Gros-Ventre village we had found a hunter 



[i8o9] 35 

and trapper named Colter,"* who had been one of 
Lewis & Clark's men, and had returned thus far with 
them in 1806. Of him I purchased a set of beaver 
traps for $ 1 20, a pound and a half of powder for $6, 
and a gun for $40. Seeing me thus equipped, Liza, 
the most active, the meanest and most rascally of 
the whole, offered me new and good traps, a gun 
and ammunition. I told him he appeared willing 
enough to help when help was not needed, and after 
I was provided at my own expense. I then selected 
two companions, Miller and McDaniel,'^ who had 
been imposed on by the boiirgeoise in the same man- 
ner with myself, and In their company I prepared to 
begin business. These two had, by good fortune, 
brought with them six traps, two guns and ammuni- 
tion of their own. We cut down a tree and of the 
trunk made a canoe in which we prepared to ascend 
to the "Forks" and head waters of the Missouri and 
the mountains. We were young, and sanguine of 
success. No fears of the future clouded our pros- 
pects and the adventures that lay before us excited 
our hopes and fancies to the highest pitch. "No dan- 
gers daunted and no labors tired us." Before leav- 
ing the Fort and my old companions, I will relate a 
characteristic anecdote of Cheek, who so soon after 

2* For sketch of John Colter see Appendix. 

25 There was a William Miller who lived at Marais des Liards, 
and a James McDaniel who lived between Florissant and Fort Belle- 
fontaine, at about this time, but nothing has been found to identify 
them with the men here mentioned. The note given by James to 
Colter, October 7, 1809, was signed by W. R. Miller as witness, but 
the name with those initials does not appear in any of the St. Louis 
records. 



36 [1809] 

this, expiated his follies by a violent death. In an 
early part of the voyage, when coming up the river, 
about two months before, I had sent Cheek to draw 
our share of provisions from the provision boat. 
Francois Ried,^'' who dealt them out for the Com- 
pany, offered Cheek a bear's head, saying it was good 
enough for "you fellows," by this meaning the 
Americans. Cheek returned to his boat in great rage 
at the insult, as he deemed it, and threatened to whip 
him (Ried) for the said contumely on himself and 
fellow companions, as soon as he was out of Gov- 
ernment employ — that is, as soon as we had deliv- 
ered up Shehaka to the Mandans. The matter 
passed on and I supposed was forgotten by Cheek 
himself, until the Fort was built, and the Americans 
were about separating with many grievances unre- 
dressed and wrongs unavenged. Cheek meeting Ried 
one morning on the bank of the river, told him that 
he had promised to whip him and that he could not 
break his word on any account. He thereupon struck 
at the audacious Frenchman, who had presumed to 

26 Francois Ride was the youngest son of Louis Ride and Vero- 
nique Marcheteau dit Desnoyer. Louis Ride was one of the thirty 
men who came with Auguste Chouteau from Fort Chartres in 1764, 
to begin the building of St. Louis. Frangois was born 12 April, 
1771, in St. Louis, at the northeast corner of what are now Main 
and Elm Streets. His mother died when he was quite young, and 
his father married, for his second wife, the Widow Hunaut — Char- 
lotte Chassin — , by whom Frangois was brought up. She was a 
daughter of M. de Chassin of Fort Chartres and his mixed blood 
wife Agnes Michel. Gayarre quotes an amusing letter of Chassin's 
to one of the Kings ministers, asking to have a wife sent from France, 
for whom, however, he did not wait. {History of Louisiana, French 
Domination, p. 286.) Frangois Ride died at St. Louis 12 October, 
1828. His elder brother, Laurent Ride, was also on this expedition, 
and was patroon of one of the boats. 



[i8o9] 37 

call Americans "fellows," and offer them a bear's 
head. Ried saved himself by running aboard one of 
the boats, where he obtained a reinforcement. Cheek 
beat a retreat, and a truce was observed by both 
parties till night fall. I had encamped with Cheek 
and two others, a few hundred yards above the Fort. 
We were all, except Cheek, in the tent, about nine 
o'clock in the evening, when Ried with a company, 
all armed with pistols and dirks came up and de- 
manded to see Cheek, saying that he had attacked 
him within the lines of the Fort, where he knew he 
could not fight without violating orders. I told him 
that Cheek was not in the tent. "He is hid, the 
cowardly rascal," cried Ried, and went to searching 
the bushes. After he and his company were gone, I 
found Cheek at Major Henry's tent, amusing him- 
self with cards and wine. I took him with me to 
our own tent, fearing that Ried's company might kill 
him if they found him that night. He was silent 
while hearing my account and for some minutes after 
entering our tent. He then spoke as if on maturest 
reflection, and said that he had intended to have let 
Ried go, with what he had got, "but now I will whip 
him in the morning if I lose my life by it." In the 
morning he started unarmed and wrapped In his 
blanket for the Fort. I with a few others followed 
to see fair play which Is ever a jewel with Ameri- 
cans. Cheek soon found Ried and accosted him in 
front of the Fort, by informing him that he had 
come down to accommodate him with the Interview 
which he had understood had been sought for, so 



38 [i809] 

anxiously, the night before. Ried said he was in 
liquor the night before — wanted to have nothing to 
do with him and began to make for the Fort. "You 
must catch a httle any how" said Cheek, and spring- 
ing towards Ried like a wild cat, with one blow he 
felled him to the earth. Capt. Chouteau who had 
seen the whole proceeding from the Fort, imme- 
diately rushed out with about thirty of his men all 
armed. "Bring out the irons, seize him, seize him," 
cried Chouteau, frantic with passion, and raging like 
a mad bull. Cheek prudently retired to our company 
on the bank of the river, a short distance, and said 
he would die rather than be ironed. We were ready 
to stand by him to the last. Chouteau now ordered 
his men to fire on us and the next moment would 
have seen bloodshed and the death of some of us, 
had not L'Abbadieu, Valle,-'^ Menard, Morrison, 
Henry and one of Chouteau's sons'^ thrown them- 

2'' This was Frangois Valle, son of Don Frangois Valle, command- 
ant of the post of Ste. Genevieve, and Marie Carpentier. He was 
born at Ste. Genevieve, 8 December 1779. When he was thirteen 
years old he was taken to New Orleans in the care of Daniel Clark, 
Jr., who sent him to New York under the guardianship of Gouver- 
neur Morris who placed him in school at Newark, New Jersey, 
where he remained several years. He returned home by way of the 
Ohio River. In 1802 or 1803 he went up the Missouri on a trading 
voyage and remained there for seven or eight years. Lewis and 
Clark met him 2 October 1804 near the Cheyenne River. He 
served in the U. S. Army as an officer in the War of 1812, resigning 
in 1815, and thereafter devoted himself to mining. He married in 
1828, and was the father of the late Captain Frangois Valle, C. S. A., 
of St. Louis. See a letter to Valle from Major Henry, in the Ap- 
pendix. And see Notes on the Genealogy of the Valle Family, by 
Mary Louise Dalton, in 2 Missouri Historical Society Collections, 
Part 7, page 54. 

28 Pierre Chouteau's three elder sons were Auguste Pierre, Pierre, 
cadet (or junior), and Paul Liguest. They were, in 1809, aged re- 
spectively twenty-three, twenty, and seventeen years. The next son. 




/t^^^. 




From portrait presented to Missouri Historical Society 
by Mrs. Virginia Sarpy Peugnet. 








h 



1758-1849 

From portrait painted for Missouri Historical Society 

by M. Hernandez Arevalo. 



[i8o9] 39 

selves between us and the opposite party and thus 
preventing the execution of Chouteau's order. Him 
they forced back, struggling like a mad child in its 
mother's arms into the Fort. On the next day after 
this fracas, Miller, McDaniel and myself parted 
from our companions, after agreeing to meet them 
again on the Forks or head-waters of the Missouri 
and started in our canoe up the river. The river is 
very crooked in this part and much narrower than 
we had found it below. We came to a Mandan vil- 
lage on the south side of the stream on the day of 
our departure from the Fort. On arriving here, we 
were on the north side of the river, and on account 
of the violence of the wind, did not cross to the vil- 
lage. Late in the evening a woman in attempting to 
cross in a skin canoe, was overset in the middle of 
the river. She was seen from the village, and imme- 
diately, a multitude of men rushed into the water 
and seemed to run rather than swim to the woman 
whom they rescued from the water with wonderful 
rapidity. Their dexterity in swimming was truly 
astonishing to us. We pushed or rather paddled on 
in a shower of rain, till late that night and en- 
camped. In the morning we went on in a snow- 
storm and in four days the ice floating in the river, 

who was born of Chouteau's second marriage, was at that time only 
twelve years old. Pierre cadet, who showed even at that time the 
remarkable capacity for business for which he was afterwards so 
distinguished, took charge during his father's absence of his duties 
as Indian agent, as appears from letters written by him from St 
Louis before any of the party had returned. The two sons here 
spoken of by James were Auguste Pierre and Paul Liguest. Auguste 
Aristide Chouteau son of Colonel Auguste Chouteau, who was the 
same age as Paul Liguest, was also of the party. 



40 [ 1 809-1810] 

prevented further navigation of the stream with the 
canoe. We stopped on the south side of the river, 
built a small cabin, banked it round with earth and 
soon made ourselves quite comfortable. This was 
in the month of November. We had caught a few 
beaver skins in our route from the Gros Ventre vil- 
lage, and we employed ourselves in making moc- 
casins and leggings and in killing game which was 
very plenty all around us. Here we determined to 
pass the winter and in the Spring continue our as- 
cent of the Missouri to the Forks. On Christmas 
day I froze my feet and became so disabled as to be 
confined to the house unable to walk. Miller and 
McDaniel soon after started back for the Fort, with 
our stock of beaver skins to exchange them for am- 
munition. They were gone twice the length of time 
agreed on for their stay. I began to consume the 
last of my rations and should have suffered for food, 
had not a company of friendly Indians called at the 
cabin and bartered provisions for trinkets and to- 
bacco. My next visitors were two Canadians and 
an American named Ayers, from the Fort, who 
were going on with despatches for the main com- 
pany, that was supposed to be at Manuel's Fort at 
the mouth of the Big Horn, a branch of the Yellow 
Stone. These men informed me that Miller and 
McDaniel had changed their mind; that they did 
not intend to continue further up the river and 
seemed to be in no haste to return to me. They 
urged me to accompany them, and promised me the 
use of one of their horses till my feet should become 



[i8io] 41 

well enough for me to walk. I consented to go 
with them and prepared to leave my cabin. Before 
doing so, I buried the traps and other accoutre- 
ments of my two former companions in a corner of 
the lodge, and peeling off the bark from a log above 
them, I wrote on it, "In this corner your things 
lie." I learned on my return in the Spring that both 
of them had been killed as was supposed by the 
Rickarees. Their guns, traps, &c., were seen in the 
hands of some of that tribe; but they were never 
heard of afterwards. 

On the third of February 18 10, eight months after 
my departure from St. Louis, I started from my win- 
ter lodge ; but I soon repented my undertaking. The 
horses were all too weak to carry more than the 
load appropriated to them, and I was thus com- 
pelled to walk. My feet became very sore and gave 
me great pain, while the crust on the snow made the 
travelling of all of us, both slow and difficult. I 
suffered severely at starting but gradually improved 
In strength and was able in a few days to keep up 
with less torture to myself than at first. We as- 
cended the south bank of the river till we struck 
the Little Missouri, a branch from the south. Here 
we found some Indians who advised us to keep up the 
banks of this river for two days, and then turning 
northwardly, a half-day's travel would bring us to 
the Gunpowder river near its head:^^ this is a branch 

29 The advice of the Indians was either misunderstood or was 
grossly misleading. The Little Missouri heads in northeast Wyom- 
ing and runs nearly north until it gets within about fifty miles of 



42 [i8io] 

of the Yellow Stone. We travelled two days as di- 
rected and left the Little Missouri in search of the 
river. We missed it entirely, on account of our 
traveling so much slower than the Indians are ac- 
customed to do. Our two day's travel was not 
greater than one of theirs. For five days we kept 
our course to the north in an open plain, and in the 
heart of winter. The cold was intense and the wind 
from the mountains most piercing. The snow blew 
directly in our faces and ice was formed on our Hps 
and eyebrows. In this high latitude and in the open 
prairies in the vicinity of the mountains where we 
then were, the winters are very cold. On the first 
night we were covered where we lay to the depth 
of three feet by the snow. No game was to be seen 
and we were destitute of provisions. For five days 

the Missouri where it turns eastward and for about seventy miles 
its course is nearly due east. It enters the Missouri in Dunn County, 
North Dakota, in latitude about 47° 50' north. 

The Powder, or Gunpowder, River heads in central Wyoming, 
and follows a northwardly course, entering the Yellowstone in the 
northern part of Custer County, Montana. From the point of the 
bend of the Little Missouri, where it turns to the eastward, to the 
mouth of the Powder River is about ninety-five miles in a south- 
westwardly direction. From the mouth of the Powder River to Fort 
Manuel at the mouth of the Bighorn is about one hundred and five 
miles. The high mound mentioned by James was probably either 
the Burning Butte or Bryant's Buttes, which are on the way from 
the Little Missouri to the mouth of the Powder River. The party 
could not have gone north for any great distance and have reached 
the Powder in the time given. 

"The country of the Crows, 

Through which the Big Horn and the Rosebud run, 

Sees over mountain peaks the setting sun ; 

And southward from the Yellowstone flung wide, 

It broadens ever to the morning side 

And has the Powder on its vague frontier." 

Neihardt, Song of Hugh Glass, p. 109. 



[i8io] 43 

we tasted not a morsel of food, and had not even the 
means of making a fire. We saw not a mound or 
hill, tree or shrub, not a beast nor a bird until the 
fifth day when we descried afar off a high mound. 
We were destitute, alone in that vast, desolate and 
to us limitless expanse of drifting snow, which the 
winds drove into our faces and heaped around our 
steps. Snow was our only food and drink, and snow 
made our covering at night. We suffered dreadfully 
from hunger. On the first and second days after 
leaving the Little Missouri for the desert we were 
now traversing, our appetites were sharper and the 
pangs of hunger more intense than afterwards. A 
languor and faintness succeeded which made travel- 
ling most laborious and painful. On the fifth day 
we had lost so much of strength and felt such weak- 
ness for want of food, that the most terrible of 
deaths, a death of famine, stared us in the face. 
The pangs and miseries we endured are vividly de- 
scribed by Mr. Kendall, ^° from actual experience in 
his "Santa Fe Expedition." My feet, in addition to 
all other sufferings, now became sore and more pain- 
ful than ever. The men had made for me a moc- 
casin of skin taken from the legs of a buffalo, and 
which I wore with the hair next my feet and legs. I 
felt the blood gurgling and bubbling in this casing 
at every step. We were about to ward off starvation 
by killing a horse, and eating the raw flesh and blood, 
when on the fifth day of our wandering in this 

30 For quotation from Kendall, see James' note at the end of chap- 
ter. 



44 [i8io] 

wilderness a mound was seen, as above mentioned, 
in the distance. We reached and ascended it in the 
evening, whence we saw woods and buffaloes before 
us. We hastened to kill several of these noblest of 
all animals of game, and encamped in the woods, 
where we quickly made a fire and cut up the meat. 
We were all so voracious in our appetites, as not to 
wait for the cooking, but ate great quantities nearly 
raw. The first taste, stimulated our hunger and 
appetites to an ungovernable pitch. We ate and ate 
and ate, as if there were no limit to our capacity, 
and no quantity could satisfy us. At length when 
gorged to the full and utterly unable to hold any 
more, we gave out and sought repose about mid- 
night under our tents. But sleep fled from our eyes 
and In the morning we arose, without having rested, 
feverish and more fatigued than when we supped 
and retired the night before. Our feet, limbs and bod- 
ies were swollen and bloated, and we all found our- 
selves laid up on the sick list, by our debauch on 
buffalo meat. We had no desire to eat again on 
that day, and remained in camp utterly unable to 
travel, till the next morning, when we started for- 
ward, travelling slowly. We soon struck the river 
which we had suffered so much in seeking, and bent 
our course up the stream, crossing Its bends on the 
ice. On one occasion when saving distance by cut- 
ting off a bend of the river, the horse carrying my 
pack and worldly goods, fell Into an air hole and 
would have instantly disappeared had I not caught 
him by the tail and dragged him out to some dis- 



[i8io] 45 

tance, with a risk to myself of plunging under the 
ice into a rapid current, that made me shudder the 
moment I coolly looked at the danger. Hair breadth 
escapes from death are so frequent in the life of a 
hunter in this wild region as to lose all novelty and 
may seem unworthy of mention. I shall relate a few 
as I proceed, for the purpose of showing the slight 
tenure the pioneer holds of life. And yet Boone, the 
prince of the prairies, "lived hunting up to ninety."^^ 
Perhaps pure air and continual exercise are more 
than a counterbalance toward a long life, against all 
the dangers of a hunters and trappers existence, 
even among hostile savages, such as we were now 
rapidly approaching. 

We continued our course up the Yellow Stone, 
gradually recovering from the effects of our unnat- 
ural surfeit and gross gormandizing of buffalo meat. 
The country here is one immense, level plain, and 
abounded, at this time, with large herds of buffalo, 
which subsisted on the buds of trees and the grass 
which the powerful winds laid bare of snow in many 
places. The river was skirted on either side by 
woods. At last, after fifteen days of painful travel 
and much suffering, we reached "Manuel's Fort," 
at the mouth of the Big Horn, where I found the 
most of my crew, and a small detachment of the 
company's men from whom I had parted the pre- 
vious fall. This Fort, as before mentioned, was 

31 Byron's Don Juan. Canto VIII. Stanza LXII. See H. M. 
Brackenridge's Recollections of Persons and Places in the West, 2nd 
Ed., p. 253. 



46 [i8io] 

built by Liza in the spring of 1808, and a small 
garrison left in it, who had remained there ever 
since. Here I found Cheek, Brown, Dougherty" 
and the rest of my crew rejoicing to see me, I was 
not a little surprised to find Col. Pierre Menard in 
command, who was to have returned to St. Louis 
from the Fort at the Gros Ventre village, and Liza 
intended to take command of the party on the head 
waters of the Missouri. Such was the arrangement 
at the commencement of the voyage. I soon learned 
from the men what they supposed to be the cause 
of the change. The next day after I had left the 
Fort on the Missouri, in the fall, Cheek and several 
Americans were in the office or marquee of the com- 
pany, endeavoring to get their equipments according 
to contract. Liza was present. Chouteau's name 
was mentioned in the course of the conversation, 
when Cheek coolly remarked that if he caught Chou- 
teau a hundred yards from camp he would shoot 
him. "Cheek ! Cheek ! !" exclaimed Liza, mind what 
you say." "I do that," said Cheek, "and Liza, I 
have heard some of our boys say that if they ever 
caught you two hundred yards from camp they 
would shoot you, and if they don't I will. You ought 
not to expect any thing better from the Americans 
after having treated them with so much meanness, 
treachery and cruelty as you have. "Now Liza," 
continued he, "you are going to the forks of the 
Missouri, mark my words, you will never come back 
alive." Liza's cheeks blanched at this bold and 

32 For sketch of John Dougherty, see Appendix. 




From portrait presented to Missouri Historical Society 
by Mrs. Nathan Corwitli. 



[i8io] 47 

reckless speech from a man who always performed 
his promises, whether good or evil. He returned to 
St. Louis and sent up Col. Menard in his place. Col- 
M. was an honorable high minded gentleman and 
enjoyed our esteem in a higher degree than any 
other of the company. Liza we thoroughly detested 
and despised, both for his acts and his reputation. 
There were many tales afloat concerning villainies 
said to have been perpetrated by him on the fron- 
tiers. These may have been wholly false or greatly 
exaggerated, but in his looks there was no decep- 
tion. Rascality sat on every feature of his dark 
complexioned, Mexican face — gleamed from his 
black, Spanish, eyes, and seemed enthroned in a fore- 
head "villainous low." We were glad to be re- 
lieved of his presence. After remaining at this Fort 
or camp a few days we started westward for the 
"Forks" and mountains in a company of thirty-two 
men, French and Americans. On first arriving at 
the Fort I had learned that two of the men with 
an Indian chief of the Snake tribe and his two wives 
and a son had gone forward, with the intention of 
killing game for our company and awaiting our ap- 
proach on the route. Our second day's journey 
brought us to an Indian lodge; stripped, and near 
by, we saw a woman and boy lying on the ground, 
with their heads split open, evidently by a toma- 
hawk. These were the Snake's elder wife and son, 
he having saved himself and his younger wife by 
flight on horseback. Our two men who had started 
out in company with him, were not molested. They 



48 [i8io] 

told us that a party of Gros Ventres had come upon 
them, committed these murders, and passed on as 
if engaged in a lawful and praise-worthy business. 
These last were the most powerful and warlike In- 
dians of that region. The poor Snake tribe, on the 
contrary, were the weakest, and consequently became 
the prey and victims of the others. They Inhabit 
the caves and chasms of the mountains and live a 
miserable and precarious life in eluding the pursuit 
of enemies. All the neighboring tribes were at war 
with these poor devils. Every party we met pre- 
tended to be out on an expedition against the Snakes, 
whom they frequently reduce to slavery. Thus the 
strong prey upon the weak in savage as well as 
civilized life. 

Our course now lay to the north-west for the 

Forks of the Missouri, which meet in latitude 

among the mountains, whence the last named river 

runs directly north as high as latitude miles, 

where It turns to the south and south-east, which 
last course it generally holds to its junction with the 
Mississippi. On the evening of the day when we 
left Manuel's Fort, my friend Brown became blind 
from the reflection of the sun on the snow;^^ his eyes 
pained him so much that he implored us to put an 
end to his torment by shooting him. I watched him 
during that night for fear he would commit the act 

33 "This blindness seems principally confined to high latitudes, 
but I have heard of occasional cases as far south as the plains of 
•western Kansas. It is mainly brought on by the exposure of the 
eyes to the glare of the sun upon the snow, but it is accelerated and 
aggravated by the high wind and flying snow; and it is most likely 



[i8io] 



49 



himself. He complained that his eye balls had burst- 
ed, and moaned and groaned most piteously. In the 
morning, I opened the swollen lids, and informed 
him to his great joy that the balls were whole and 
sound. He could now distinguish a faint glimmer- 
ing of light. I led him all that day and the next, on 
the third he had so far recovered that he could see, 
though but indistinctly. Our guide on this route was 
Colter, who thoroughly knew the road, having twice 
escaped over it from capture and death at the hands 
of the Indians. In ten or twelve days after leaving 
the Fort we re-entered an opening or gap in the 
mountains, where it commenced snowing most vio- 
lently and so continued all night. The morning 
showed us the heads and backs of our horses just 
visible above the snow which had crushed down all 
our tents. We proceeded on with the greatest diffi- 
culty. As we entered the ravine or opening of the 

to occur late in the winter season and early in the spring when the 
sun's rays fall with a more vertical slant. Indeed in early and mid- 
winter, cases of snow blindness are extremely rare. The Indians 
and even wild animals are subject to it, and to the frequenter of our 
western plains a snow blind rabbit or even sage or prairie chicken 
is no uncommon sight. A method of treatment practiced by some 
of the northwestern Indians is to drop into the corner of the eye a 
little skunk oil, which they extracted and preserved for this purpose. 
1 have been assured by old hunters who have tried it that it is a 
sovereign remedy. But prevention is infinitely preferable to cure, 
and may be effected by blackening the face to the distance of an inch 
or more around the eyes, close up to the lids. This has never failed 
me, and I have yet to hear of an instance where it did not secure 
immunity from this trerible malady. A bit of wet powder or lamp 
black, the soot off the bottom of a kettle, a charred stick or powdered 
charcoal will accomplish this. It is the approved method of ward- 
ing It off practiced by frontier men." Bradley's Journal, 2 Montana 
tiistonca] Society Contributions, p. 144. In the original journals of 
i.ewis and Clark it is said that snow blindness is cured by 'jentilley 
swctting the part affected by throwing snow on a hot stone " 



50 [i8io] 

mountain the snow greatly increased in depth being 
in places from fifty to sixty feet on the ground, a 
third of which had fallen and drifted in that night. 
The wind had heaped it up in many places to a 
prodigious height. The strongest horses took the 
front to make a road for us, but soon gave out and 
the ablest bodied men took their places as pioneers. 
A horse occasionally stepped out of the beaten track 
and sunk entirely out of sight in the snow. By night 
we had made about four miles for that day's travel. 
By that night we passed the ravine and reached the 
Gallatin river, being the eastern fork of the Mis- 
souri. The river sweeps rapidly by the pass at Its 
western extremity, on each side of which the moun- 
tains rise perpendicularly from the bank of the 
river, and apparently stopped our progress up and 
down the east side of the stream. I forded it and 
was followed by Dougherty, Ware^* and another, 
when Colter discovered an opening through the 
mountain on the right or north side, and through it 
led the rest of the company. We however pro- 
ceeded down the left bank of the river till night, 
when we encamped and supped (four of us) on a 
piece of buffalo meat about the size of the two 
hands. During this and the preceding day we suf- 
fered from indistinct vision, similar to Brown's afflic- 
tion on leaving the Big Horn. We all now became 
blind as he had been, from the reflection of the 
sun's rays on the snow. The hot tears trickled from 
the swollen eyes nearly blistering the cheeks, and the 

3* For sketch of William Weir, see Appendix. 



[i8io] 51 

eye-balls seemed bursting from our heads. At first, 
the sight was obscured as by a silk veil or handker- 
chief, and we were unable to hunt. Now we could 
not even see our way before us, and in this dreadful 
situation we remained two days and nights. Hun- 
ger was again inflicting its sharp pangs upon us, and 
we were upon the point of killing one of the pack- 
horses, when on the fourth day after crossing the 
Gallatin, one of the men killed a goose, of which, 
being now somewhat recovered from our blindness, 
we made a soup and stayed the gnawings of hunger. 
The next day our eyes were much better, and we for- 
tunately killed an elk, of which we ate without ex- 
cess, being taught by experience, the dangers of glut- 
tony after a fast. We continued on down the river 
and soon came in sight of our comrades in the main 
body on the right bank. They, like ourselves, had 
all been blind, and had suffered more severely than 
we from the same causes. They had killed three 
dogs, one a present to me from an Indian, and two 
horses to appease the demands of hunger, before 
they had sufficiently recovered to take sight on their 
guns. While in this distressed situation enveloped 
by thick darkness at midday, thirty Snake Indians 
came among them, and left without committing any 
depredation. Brown and another, who suffered less 
than the others, saw and counted these Indians, who 
might have killed them all and escaped with their 
effects with perfect impunity. Their preservation 
was wonderful. When we overtook them they were 
slowly recovering from blindness, and we all en- 



52 [i8io] 

camped together, with thankful and joyous hearts 
for our late and narrow escape from painful and 
lingering death. We proceeded on in better spirits. 
On the next day we passed a battle field of the In- 
dians, where the skulls and bones were lying around 
on the ground in vast numbers. The battle^^ which 
had caused this terrible slaughter, took place in 
1808, the year but one before, between the Black- 
Feet to the number of fifteen hundred on the one 
side, and the Flat-Heads and Crows, numbering to- 
gether about eight hundred on the other. Colter 
was in the battle on the side of the latter, and was 

35 "It is an act of justice due to the memory of the late Captain 
Lewis, to state that the Blackfeet Indians (in whose vicinity Lisa 
now lives) were so convinced of the propriety of his conduct in the 
rencounter between him and a party of their people, in which two 
of them were killed, that they did not consider it a cause of war or 
hostility on their part; this is proved, in as much as the first party 
of Lisa's men that were met by the Blackfeet were treated civilly. 
This circumstance induced Lisa to despatch one of his men (Coulter) 
to the forks of the Missouri to endeavor to find the Blackfeet na- 
tion, and bring them to his establishment to trade. The messenger 
unfortunately fell in with a party of the Crow nation, with whom 
he stayed several days. While with them they were attacked by 
their enemies the Blackfeet. Coulter, in self defence, took part with 
the Crows. He distinguished himself very much in the combat; and 
the Blackfeet were defeated, having plainly observed a white man 
fighting in the ranks of their enemy. Coulter returned to the trad- 
ing house. In traversing the same country a short time after, in 
company with another man a party of the Blackfeet attempted to 
stop them, without, however, evidencing any hostile intentions; a 
rencounter ensued, in which the companion of Coulter and two In- 
dians were killed, and Coulter made his escape. The next time 
whites were met by the Blackfeet the latter attacked without any 
parley." Letter of Major Thomas Biddle to Col. Henry Atkinson, 
written from Camp Missouri, 29 October 18 19, American State Pa- 
pers, Indian Affairs, Vol. II, p. 201. Thereafter the Blackfeet killed 
the whites like the white man kills snakes; the inoffensive are made 
to suffer because some are poisonous. The naturally kindly disposi- 
tion of the Blackfeet is shown in Schultz's My Life as an Indian, and 
McClintock's The Old North Trail; two delightful books. 



[i8io] 53 

wounded In the leg, and thus disabled from stand- 
ing. He crawled to a small thicket and there loaded 
and fired while sitting on the ground. The battle 
was desperately fought on both sides, but victory re- 
mained with the weaker party. The Black-Feet en- 
gaged at first about five hundred Flat-Heads, whom 
they attacked in great fury. The noise, shouts and 
firing brought a reinforcement of Crows to the Flat- 
Heads, who were fighting with great spirit and de- 
fending the ground manfully. The Black-Feet, who 
are the Arabs of this region, were at length repulsed, 
but retired in perfect order and could hardly be said 
to have been defeated. The Flat-Heads are a noble 
race of men, brave, generous and hospitable. They 
might be called the Spartans of Oregon. Lewis & 
Clark had received much kindness from them in their 
expedition to the Columbia, which waters their coun- 
try; and at the time of this well fought battle. Colter 
was leading them to Manuel's Fort to trade with 
the Americans, when the Black Feet fell upon them 
in such numbers as seemingly to make their destruc- 
tion certain. Their desperate courage saved them 
from a general massacre. 

The following day we reached the long sought 
"Forks of the Missouri," or the place of confluence 
of the Gallatin, Madison and Jefferson rivers. Here 
at last, after ten months of travel, we encamped, 
commenced a Fort'*' In the point made by the Madi- 
as The fort built by this company at the three forks of the Mis- 
souri is the establishment whose traces still remain near Gallatin 
City and which is popularly ascribed to Lewis and Clark. In 1870, 
the outlines of the fort were still intact, from which it appears it 



54 [i8io] 

son and Jefferson forks, and prepared to begin busi- 
ness. This point was the scene of Colter's escape in 
the fall of the year but one before, from the Indians 
and a death by torture ; an event so extraordinary 
and thrilling, as he related it to me, that it deserves 
a brief narration. 

Note. — The following is the description given 
by G. W. Kendall, of the sufferings from starva- 
tion, referred to on the forty-second page. 

"For the first two days through which a strong 
and hearty man is doomed to exist upon nothing, his 
sufferings are, perhaps, more acute than in the re- 
maining stages. He feels an inordinate, unappeas- 
able, craving at the stomach, night and day. The 
mind runs upon beef, bread and other substantial; 
but still in a great measure, the body retains its 
strength. On the third and fourth days, but espe- 
cially on the fourth, this incessant craving gives place 
to a sinking and weakness of the stomach, accom- 

■was a double stockade of logs set three feet deep, enclosing an area 
of about 300 feet square, situated upon the tongue of land (at that 
point half a mile wide) between the Jefferson and Madison Rivers, 
about two miles above their confluence, upon the south bank of a 
channel of the former stream now called the Jefferson slough. Since 
then the stream has made such inroads upon the land that only a 
small portion of the fort — the southwest angle — remains. It is prob- 
able that every vestige of this old relic will soon disappear, except 
the few stumps of stockade logs that have been removed by two or 
three gentlemen of antiquarian tastes. When Henry abandoned the 
fort a blacksmith's anvil was left behind, which remained there for 
thirty or forty years undisturbed, gazed upon only by the Indains 
who regarded it with superstition and awe. At last it disappeared 
and it is said to have been found and removed by a party of white 
men." Bradley's Journal, 2 Montana Hist. Soc. Contributions, p. 
148. Mr. Peter Koch, writing in 1884, says: "Twenty years ago 
I saw the remains of his [Lisa's] stockade on the banks of the Mad- 
ison, but I believe they have now been washed away by the en- 
croachments of the river." lb., p. 131. 



55 

panled by nausea. The unfortunate sufferer still 
desires food, but with loss of strength he loses that 
eager craving which is felt in the earlier stages. 
Should he chance to obtain a morsel or two of food, 
as was occasionally the case with us, he swallows it 
with a wolfish avidity; but five minutes afterwards 
his sufferings are more intense than ever. He feels 
as if he had swallowed a living lobster, which is 
clawing and feeding upon the very foundations of 
his existence. On the fifth day his cheeks suddenly 
appear hollow and sunken, his body attenuated, his 
color an ashy pale, and his eye wild, glassy, cannibal- 
ish. The different parts of the system now wage 
war with each other. The stomach calls upon the 
legs to go with it, in quest of food; the legs from 
very weakness refuse. The sixth day brings with it 
incessant suffering, although the pangs of hunger are 
lost in an overpowering langor and sickness. The 
head becomes giddy — the ghosts of well remembered 
dinners pass in hideous procession through the mind. 
The seventh day comes bringing in train lassitude 
and further prostration of the system. The arms 
hang listlessly, the legs drag heavily. The desire 
for food is still left, to a degree, but it must be 
brought, not sought. The miserable remnant of life 
which still hangs to the sufferer is a burden almost 
too grievous to be borne ; yet his Inherent love of ex- 
istence induces a desire still to preserve it, if it can 
be saved without a tax upon bodily exertion. The 
mind wanders. At one moment he thinks his weary 
limbs cannot sustain him a mile — the next he is en- 
dowed with unnatural strength, and if there be a 
certainty of relief before him, dashes bravely and 
strongly onward, wondering where proceeds this new 
and sudden impulse. Farther than this my experi- 
ence runneth not." — Vol. i p. 226. The whole of 



S6 

the company — ninety eight men — subsisted for thir- 
teen days on what was "really not provisions enough 
for three, and then came upon a herd of 17,000 
sheep, about eighty miles south east of Santa Fe. 
Here a scene of feasting ensued which beggars de- 
scription. . . . Our men abandoned themselves at 
once to eating — perhaps I should rather call it gor- 
mandizing or stuffing. . . . Had the food been any- 
thing but mutton, and had we not procured an ample 
supply of salt from the Mexicans to season it, our 
men might have died of the surfeit." — p. 265. 

This lively writer, Geo. W. Kendall, has told a 
tale in the book just quoted, of prairie life and ad- 
venture as well as of Mexican barbarity and treach- 
ery, and has embellished his story with all the graces 
of style and description calculated to render it a 
work of enduring interest. (Author's note.) 

"Kendall, George Wilkins, Narrative of the 
Texas Santa Fe Expedition, comprising a description 
of a Tour Through Texas and Across the Great 
Southwestern Prairies, the Comanche and Cayuga 
Hunting Grounds ; with an account of the sufferings 
from want of food, losses from hostile Indians, and 
final capture of the Texans, and their march, as pris- 
oners, to the City of Mexico. 2 vols. 8 vo. Pp. 
405, 406. Map and Illustrations. N. Y. 1844." 
The foregoing is taken from Raines' Texas Bib- 
liography. The book is not mentioned in the A. L. 
A. Guide to the Literature of American History. 
The copy in the library of the Missouri Historical 
Society is of the seventh edition, and bears date 1856. 



CHAPTER TWO. 

Colter's Race and Escapes — Separation for Trapping — Descent of 
the Missouri — A Fine Landscape — Bad Luck — Alarm From In- 
dians — Retreat to the Fort — Death of Cheek — Pursuit of the 
Indians — Return — The White Bears — Incidents of Hunting — 
Return to the Twenty Five Yard River — A Party of Gros-Ven- 
tres — Suspected Robbery — Interview With the Crows — Rapid 
Crossing of the Yellow Stone — Descent to the Fort and the 
"Cache" — Robbery Made Certain — Passage to the Missouri — 
Indian Character and Customs — A Spree, Ending Almost Trag- 
ically — Generosity of the Company — Settlement With Them — 
A Sage Reflection. 

WHEN Colter was returning in 1806, with 
Lewis and Clark, from Oregon, he met a com- 
pany of hunters ascending the Missouri, by whom he 
was persuaded to return to the trapping region, to 
hunt and trap with them. Here he was found by 
Liza in the following year, whom he assisted in build- 
ing the Fort at the Big Horn. In one of his many 
excursions from this post to the Forks of the Mis- 
souri, for beaver, he made the wonderful escape^ ad- 
verted to in the last chapter and which I give pre- 
cisely as he related it to me. His veracity was never 
questioned among us and his character was that of a 

1 John Bradbury says that he saw Colter at St. Louis on his ar- 
rival from the upper Missouri and received from him an account of 
his adventures after he had separated from Lewis and Clark's party. 
One of these, the story of the race, "from its singularity," Bradbury 
printed in his interesting and valuable Travels in the Interior of 
America (Liverpool, 1817), at page 17. Washington Irving copied 
the story, from Bradbury, into his Astoria. 

57 



58 [i8o8] 

true American back-woodsman. He was about thirty- 
five years of age, five feet ten inches in height and 
wore an open, ingenious, and pleasing countenance of 
the Daniel Boone stamp. Nature had formed him, 
like Boone, for hardy indurance of fatigue, priva- 
tions and perils. He had gone with a companion 
named Potts^ to the Jefferson river, which is the most 
western of the three Forks, and runs near the base of 
the mountains. They were both proceeding up the 
river in search of beaver, each in his own canoe, 
when a war party of about eight hundred Black-Feet 
Indians suddenly appeared on the east bank of the 
river. The Chiefs ordered them to come ashore, 
and apprehending robbery only, and knowing the 
utter hopelessness of flight, and having dropped his 
traps over the side of the canoe from the Indians, 
into the water, which was here quite shallow, he 
hastened to obey their mandate. On reaching the 
shore, he was seized, disarmed and stripped entirely 
naked. Potts was still in his canoe in the middle of 
the stream, where he remained stationary, watching 
the result. Colter requested him to come ashore, 




emerges from obscurity on 
' two occasions ; first as a 
member of Lewis and 
Clark's party, and second 
by the circumstances of his death. After his return from the Pacific 
he entered Lisa's employ and went up the river with the expedition 
of 1807. His estate was administered upon in St. Louis by Rufus 
Easton, but the files in the estate are missing and nothing has been 
learned of his antecedents. The land warrant issued to him under 
the Act of Congress "making compensation to Messrs. Lewis and 
Clark and their companions," was sold at public sale by the admin- 
istrator, II November, 18 10. 



[i8o8] 59 

which he refused to do, saying he might as well lose 
his life at once, as be stripped and robbed in the 
manner Colter had been. An Indian immediately 
fired and shot him about the hip; he dropped down 
in the canoe, but instantly rose with his rifle in his 
hands. "Are you hurt," said Colter. "Yes, said he, 
too much hurt to escape; if you can get away do so. 
I will kill at least one of them." He leveled his rifle 
and shot an Indian dead. In an instant, at least a 
hundred bullets pierced his body and as many sav- 
ages rushed into the stream and pulled the canoe, 
containing his riddled corpse, ashore. They dragged 
the body up onto the bank, and with their hatchets 
and knives cut and hacked it all to pieces, and limb 
from limb. The entrails, heart, lungs &c., they 
threw into Colter's face. The relations of the killed 
Indian were furious with rage and struggled, with 
tomahawk in hand, to reach Colter, while others 
held them back. He was every moment expecting 
the death blow or the fatal shot that should lay him 
beside his companion. A council was hastily held 
over him and his fate quickly determined upon. He 
expected to die by tomahawk, slow, lingering and 
horrible. But they had magnanimously determined 
to give him a chance, though a slight one, for his 
life. After the council, a Chief pointed to the 
prairie and motioned him away with his hand, say- 
ing in the Crow language, "go — go away." He sup- 
posed they intended to shoot him as soon as he was 
out of the crowd and presented a fair mark to their 
guns. He started in a walk, and an old Indian with 



6o [1808] 

Impatient signs and exclamations, told him to go 
faster, and as he still kept a walk, the same Indian 
manifested his wishes by still more violent gestures 
and adjurations. When he had gone a distance of 
eighty or a hundred yards from the army of his 
enemies, he saw the younger Indians throwing off 
their blankets, leggings, and other Incumbrances, as 
If for a race. Now he knew their object. He was 
to run a race, of which the prize was to be his own 
life and scalp. Off he started with the speed of the 
wind. The war-whoop and yell immediately arose 
behind him; and looking back, he saw a large com- 
pany of young warriors, with spears, in rapid pur- 
suit. He ran with all the strength that nature, ex- 
cited to the utmost, could give ; fear and hope lent 
a supernatural vigor to his limbs and the rapidity 
of his flight astonished himself. The Madison Fork 
lay directly before him, five miles from his starting 
place. He had run half the distance when his strength 
began to fail and the blood to gush from his nostrils. 
At every leap the red stream spurted before him, and 
his limbs were growing rapidly weaker and weaker. 
He stopped and looked back; he had far outstripped 
all his pursuers and could get off If strength would 
only hold out. One solitary Indian, far ahead of 
the others, was rapidly approaching, with a spear 
In his right hand, and a blanket streaming behind 
from his left hand and shoulder. Despairing of es- 
cape. Colter awaited his pursuer and called to him 
In the Crow language, to save his life. The savage 
did not seem to hear him, but letting go his blanket, 



[i8o8] 6i 

and seizing his spear with both hands, he rushed at 
Colter, naked and defenceless as he stood before him 
and made a desperate lunge to transfix him. Colter 
seized the spear, near the head, with his right hand, 
and exerting his whole strength, aided by the weight 
of the falling Indian, who had lost his balance in the 
fury of the onset, he broke off the iron head or blade 
which remained in his hand, while the savage fell to 
the ground and lay prostrate and disarmed before 
him. Now was his turn to beg for his life, which 
he did in the Crow language, and held up his hands 
imploringly, but Colter was not in a mood to remem- 
ber the golden rule, and pinned his adversary 
through the body to the earth by one stab with the 
spear head. He quickly drew the weapon from the 
body of the now dying Indian, and seizing his blan- 
ket as lawful spoil, he again set out with renewed 
strength, feeling, he said to me, as if he had not run 
a mile. A shout and yell arose from the pursuing 
army in his rear as from a legion of devils, and he 
saw the prairie behind him covered with Indians in 
full and rapid chase. Before him, if anywhere, was 
life and safety; behind him certain death; and run- 
ning as never man before sped the foot, except, per- 
haps, at the Olympic Games, he reached his goal, 
the Madison river and the end of his five mile heat. 
Dashing through the willows on the bank he plunged 
into the stream and saw close beside him a beaver 
house, standing like a coal-pit about ten feet above 
the surface of the water, which was here of about 
the same depth. This presented to him a refuge 



62 [i8o8] 

from his ferocious enemies of which he immediately 
availed himself. Diving under the water he arose 
into the beaver house, where he found a dry and 
comfortable resting place on the upper floor or 
story of this singular structure. The Indians soon 
came up, and in their search for him they stood upon 
the roof of his house of refuge, which he expected 
every moment to hear them breaking open. He also 
feared that they would set it on fire. After a dili- 
gent search on that side of the river, they crossed 
over, and in about two hours returned again to his 
temporary habitation in which he was enjoying bod- 
ily rest, though with much anxious foreboding. The 
beaver houses are divided into two stories and will 
generally accommodate several men in a dry and 
comfortable lodging. In this asylum Colter kept 
fast till night. The cries of his terrible enemies had 
gradually died away, and all was still around him, 
when he ventured out of his hiding place, by the 
same opening under the water by which he entered 
and which admits the beavers to their building. He 
swam the river and hastened towards the mountain 
gap or ravine, about thirty miles above on the river, 
through which our company passed in the snow with 
so much difficulty. Fearing that the Indians might 
have guarded this pass, which was the only outlet 
from the valley, and to avoid the danger of a sur- 
prise, Colter ascended the almost perpendicular 
mountain before him, the tops and sides of which a 
great way down, were covered with perpetual snow. 
He clambered up this fearful ascent about four miles 



[i8o8] 63 

below the gap, holding on by the rocks, shrubs and 
branches of trees, and by morning had reached the 
top. He lay there concealed all that day, and at 
night proceeded on in the descent of the mountain, 
which he accomplished by dawn. He now hastened 
on in the open plain towards Manuel's Fort on the 
Big Horn, about three hundred miles ahead in the 
north-east. He travelled day and night, stopping 
only for necessary repose, and eating roots and the 
bark of trees, for eleven days. He reached the Fort, 
nearly exhausted by hunger, fatigue and excitement. 
His only clothing was the Indian's blanket, whom he 
had killed in the race, and his only weapon, the same 
Indian's spear which he brought to the Fort as a 
trophy. His beard was long, his face and whole 
body were thin and emaciated by hunger, and his 
limbs and feet swollen and sore. The company at 
the Fort did not recognize him in this dismal plight 
until he made himself known. Colter now with me 
passed over the scene of his capture and wonderful 
escape, and described his emotions during the whole 
adventure with great minuteness. Not the least of 
his exploits was the scaling of the mountain, which 
seemed to me impassible even by the mountain goat. 
As I looked at its rugged and perpendicular sides I 
wondered how he ever reached the top — a feat prob- 
ably never performed before by mortal man. The 
whole affair is a fine example of the quick and ready 
thoughtfulness and presence of mind in a desperate 
situation, and the power of endurance, which char- 
acterise the western pioneer. As we passed over the 



64 [1808-1809] 

ground where Colter ran his race, and listened to his 
story an undefinable fear crept over all. We felt 
awe-struck by the nameless and numerous dangers 
that evidently beset us on every side. Even Cheek's 
courage sunk and his hitherto buoyant and cheerful 
spirit was depressed at hearing of the perils of the 
place. He spoke despondingly and his mind was 
uneasy, restless and fearful. "I am afraid," said 
he, "and I acknowledge it. I never felt fear before 
but now I feel it." A melancholy that seemed like a 
presentiment of his own fate, possessed him, and to 
us he was serious almost to sadness, until he met his 
death a few days afterwards from the same Black- 
feet from whom Colter escaped. Colter told us the 
particulars of a second adventure which I will give 
to the reader. In the winter when he had recovered 
from the fatigues of his long race and journey, he 
wished to recover the traps which he had dropped 
into the Jefferson Fork on the first appearance of the 
Indians who captured him. He supposed the In- 
dians were all quiet in winter quarters, and retraced 
his steps to the Gallatin Fork. He had just passed 
the mountain gap, and encamped on the bank of the 
river for the night and kindled a fire to cook his sup- 
per of buffalo meat when he heard the crackling of 
leaves and branches behind him in the direction of 
the river. He could see nothing, it being quite dark, 
but quickly heard the cocking of guns and instantly 
leaped over the fire. Several shots followed and 
bullets whistled around him, knocking the coals off 
his fire over the ground. Again he fled for life, and 



[i8o9-i8io] 6^ 

the second time, ascended the perpendicular moun- 
tain which he had gone up in his former flight fear- 
ing now as then, that the pass might be guarded by 
Indians. He reached the top before morning and 
resting for the day descended the next night, and 
then made his way with all possible speed, to the 
Fort. He said that at the time, he promised God 
Almighty that he would never return to this region 
again if he were only permitted to escape once more 
with his life. He did escape once more, and was 
now again in the same country, courting the same 
dangers, which he had so often braved, and that 
seemed to have for him a kind of fascination. Such 
men, and there are thousands of such, can only live 
in a state of excitement and constant action. Perils 
and danger are their natural element and their fa- 
miliarity with them and indifference to their fate, 
are well illustrated in these adventures of Colter. 

A few days afterward, when Cheek was killed and 
Colter had another narrow escape, he came into the 
Fort, and said he had promised his Maker to leave 
the country, and "now" said he, throwing down his 
hat on the ground, "if God will only forgive me this 
time and let me off I will leave the country day after 
to-morrow— and be d— d if I ever come into it 
agam." He left accordingly, in company with young 
Bryant^ of Philadelphia, whose father was a mer- 

3 William Bryan (not Bryant) was a kinsman of the Morrisons 
He was the bearer of Col. Menard's letter to Pierre Chouteau, prin': 
ed in Chittenden s History of the American Fur Trade (Vol % n 
893), and from that his first name is obtained. Nothing further has 
been learned about him. "»iuci uas 



66 [i8io] 

chant of that city, and one other whose name I for- 
get. They were attacked by the Blackfeet just be- 
yond the mountains, but escaped by hiding in a 
thicket, where the Indians were afraid to follow 
them, and at night they proceeded towards the Big 
Horn, lying concealed in the day-time. They reached 
St. Louis* safely, and a few years after I heard of 
Colter's death by jaundice. 

We arrived at the Forks of the Missouri on the 
third day of April, 1810, ten months after leaving 
St. Louis and two months and one day after quitting 
my cabin above the Gros Ventre village. We had 
now reached our place of business, trapping for 
beaver, and prepared to set to work. Dougherty, 
Brown, Ware and myself agreed to trap in company 
on the Missouri between the Forks and the Falls, 
which lie several hundred miles down the river to 
the north, from the Forks. We made two canoes 
by hollowing out the trunks of two trees and on the 
third or fourth day after our arrival at the Forks 
we were ready to start on an expedition down the 
river. The rest of the Americans with a few French, 
in all eighteen in number, determined to go up the 
Jefferson river for trapping, and the rest of the 
company under Col Menard remained to complete 
the Fort and trading house at the Forks between the 
Jefferson and Madison rivers. On parting from 
Cheek, he said in a melancholy tone, "James you are 

^Bradbury says, "This man came to St. Louis in May 1810, in a 
small canoe, from the head waters of the Missouri, a distance of 
three thousand miles, which he traversed in thirty days." 



[i8io] 67 

going down the Missouri, and it is ;'the general 
opinion that you will be killed. The Blackfeet are 
at the falls, encamped I hear, and we fear you will 
never come back. But I am afraid for myself as well 
as you. I know not the cause, but I have felt fear 
ever since I came to the Forks, and I never was 
afraid of anything before. You may come out safe, 
and I may be killed. Then you will say, there was 
Cheek afraid to go with us down the river for fear 
of death, and now he has found his grave by going 
up the river. I may be dead when you return." His 
words made little Impression on me at the time, but 
his tragical end a few days afterwards recalled them 
to my mind and stamped them on my memory for- 
ever. I endeavored to persuade him to join our 
party, while he was equally urgent for me to join 
his, saying that if we went in one company our force 
would afford more protection from Indians, than in 
small parties, while I contended that the fewer our 
numbers the better would be our chance of conceal- 
ment and escape from any war parties that might 
be traversing the country. We parted never to meet 
again, taking opposite directions and both of us go- 
ing into the midst of dangers. My company of four 
started down the river and caught some beaver on 
the first day. On the second we passed a very high 
spur of the mountain on our right. The mountains 
in sight on our left, were not so high as those to the 
east of us. On the third day we Issued from very 
high and desolate mountains on both sides of us, 
whose tops are covered with snow throughout the 



68 [i8io] 

year, and came upon a scene of beauty and magnifi- 
cence combined, unequalled by any other view of na- 
ture that I ever beheld. It really realized all my con- 
ceptions of the Garden of Eden. In the west the 
peaks and pinnacles of the Rocky Mountains shone 
resplendent in the sun. The snow on their tops sent 
back a beautiful reflection of the rays of the morn- 
ing sun. From the sides of the dividing ridge be- 
tween the waters of the Missouri and Columbia, 
there sloped gradually down to the bank of the 
river we were on, a plain, then covered with every 
variety of wild animals peculiar to this region, while 
on the east another plain arose by a very gradual as- 
cent, and extended as far as the eye could reach. 
These and the mountain sides were dark with Buf- 
falo, Elk, Deer, Moose, Wild Goats and Wild 
Sheep ; some grazing, some lying down under the 
trees and all enjoying a perfect millenium of peace 
and quiet. On the margin the swan, geese and peli- 
cans, cropped the grass or floated on the surface of 
the water. The cotton wood trees seemed to have 
been planted by the hand of man on the bank of the 
river to shade our way, and the pines and cedars 
waved their tall, majestic heads along the base and 
on the sides of the mountains. The whole landscape 
was that of the most splendid English Park. The 
stillness, beauty and loveliness of this scene, struck 
us all with indescribable emotions. We rested on 
the oars and enjoyed the whole view in silent aston- 
ishment and admiration. Nature seemed to have 
rested here, after creating the wild mountains and 




f(U<v><^Lt^^y^^ 



[i8io] 69 

chasms among which we had voyaged for two days. 
Dougherty, as if inspired by the scene with the 
spirit of poetry and song, broke forth in one of 
Burns' noblest lyrics, which found a deep echo in our 
hearts. We floated on till evening through this most 
delightful country, when we stopped and prepared 
supper on the bank of the river. We set our traps 
and before going to rest for the night we examined 
them and found a beaver in every one, being twenty- 
three in all. In the morning we were nearly as suc- 
cessful as before and were cheered with thoughts of 
making a speedy fortune. We determined to re- 
main in this second paradise as long as our pursuits 
would permit. We skinned our beaver, ate break- 
fast and started to go further down the river in 
search of a good camp ground. Brown and Dough- 
erty started in a canoe, before Ware and I were 
ready, and after going about two hundred yards, 
they struck a rock concealed under the water, over- 
turned the canoe, and lost all our skins and ammuni- 
tion except the little powder in our horns and few 
skins left behind. They also lost their guns, but 
saved themselves and the canoe. Ware and I soon 
followed them, and we all encamped at the mouth 
of a small creek on the left side of the river. Here 
Ware and I remained while the two others went 
back to the Fort to procure other guns and ammuni- 
tion, taking with them one of our guns. They 
reached the Fort the first night, having saved a great 
distance by crossing the country and cutting off the 
bend of the river which here makes a large sweep 



70 [i8io] 

to the east. They went up on the west side or that 
next to the mountains waded Jefferson's Fork and 
entered the Fort late at night. Early the next morn- 
ing the whole garrison was aroused by an alarm 
made by Valle and several Frenchmen who came in, 
as if pursued by enemies, and informed them that 
the whole party who had gone up the Jefferson, at 
the time of our departure down the Missouri, had 
been killed by the Indians, and that they expected an 
immediate attack on the Fort. The whole garrison 
prepared for resistance. The next morning after 
Valle's arrival, Colter came in unhurt, with a few 
others, and said there were no Indians near the 
Fort. Col. Menard despatched Dougherty and 
Brown, on the same day, to us with the request that 
we should hasten to the Fort to assist in its defence. 
Being well mounted, they came up to our camp as we 
were preparing dinner. Their faces were pale with 
fright, and in great trepidation they told us they had 
seen Indian "signs" on the route from the Fort — 
that a horse with a rope about his neck had run up 
and snuffed around them as if in search of his mas- 
ter, and then disappeared — that an Indian dog had 
performed the same action. Every thing indicated 
that Indians were near, and we hastened to depart 
for the Fort. We proceeded up the creek near whose 
mouth we had encamped, and were screened from 
view on the north by the willows on our right. We 
had gone very cautiously four miles, when we left 
the river, and I perceived a small herd of buffalo in 
the creek bottom far to our right, start bounding off 




I'rom miniature presented to Missouri Historical Society 
by Mrs. Minnie \'alle Fairtield. 



[i8io] 71 

as if from pursuers In the rear, and immediately 
after, I descried through an opening in the willows, 
eight Indians, walking rapidly across the plain in the 
direction of our late camp. I informed the others 
of my observation, and Ware horror stricken pro- 
posed immediate flight. I protested against this 
course and no one seconded him, but we were all 
alarmed and the chins and lips of some quivered as 
they spoke. I said that we could not all escape, hav- 
ing but two horses among us, that we had, perhaps, 
seen the whole force of the Indians, and that they 
might not have seen us at all; that we could fight 
eight with success. I proposed that if attacked we 
should make a breast-work of our horses and two 
of us should fire upon them at a hundred yards, that 
the other two should fire at fifty yards, that the re- 
loaded guns should despatch the third couple, and 
our knives and pistols finish the seventh and eighth. 
This Bobadil proposition revived their spirits won- 
derfully, and they instantly dismissed all thoughts of 
flight. Ware and I ascended a small height to watch 
the Indians, while the rest went on with the horses, 
which travelled slowly with packs. Here we saw 
the Indians go up to our deserted camp, the smoke 
from which had attracted them thither. The smoke 
in this clear atmosphere is visible to a great distance. 
The hunters said they had seen the smoke from an 
ordinary fire in the prairies for three hundred miles. 
We proceeded without pursuit, and at two o'clock 
the next morning we reached the Jefferson Fork, 
opposite the Fort. Unwilling to risk the danger of 



72 [i8io] 

an attack by delay we forded the river with great 
difficulty, and went towards the Fort, whence some 
dogs rushed upon us barking furiously. I spoke to 
the dogs, and a voice hailed us from the Fort with 
"who's there?" I answered promptly, and thus saved 
ourselves from a volley, for when we entered the 
Fort, the whole garrison was drawn up with fingers 
upon triggers. They were expecting an attack every 
moment, and did not look for us so soon. They 
were all in the greatest consternation. Lieutenant 
EmmeP with those before mentioned of the trap- 
ping party up the river, had come in and they sup- 
posed that all the rest had been killed. They had had 
a very narrow escape themselves, as all but Colter 
probably considered it; he with his large experience, 
naturally looked upon the whole as an ordinary oc- 
currence. During the day others came In and we 



5 Michael E. Im- 
MELL was one of 
the subordinates 

in the Fur Company, but he possessed many of the qualities of a 
great leader. He was loyal, brave, resourceful and persistent. He 
went up the river with the Fur Company in 1809, and was killed 
in battle with the Blackfeet 31 May, 1823. There is no record of 
his having returned to St. Louis after his departure in 1809, though, 
ini8i2, he came as far down as St. Charles, where, meeting the 
upward bound party, he turned back. For many years he was 
Lisa's trusted lieutenant. He was born, probably, in Pennsylvania, 
but the year of his birth is not known. He came to St. Louis in 
the early part of 1804, and later became a member of the ist In- 
fantry (Colonel Thomas Hunt's regiment), in which he was ap- 
pointed ensign 10 June, 1807, and second lieutenant 14 October, 
1808. He resigned from the army 30 October, 1808. During the 
period of his army service he was stationed at Fort Bellefontaine, 
though for a short time, in 1808, he commanded the small garri- 
son at St. Louis. 




[i8io] 73 

learned from them the extent of our losses. The 
company consisting of eighteen, had proceeded up 
the bank of the Jefferson, trapping, and on the third 
day had pitched their tents for the night, near the 
river, and about forty miles from the Fort. Cheek, 
HulP and Ayers^ were employed in preparing the 
camp, while the rest had dispersed in various direc- 
tions to kill game, when some thirty or forty Indians 
appeared on the prairie south of them, running afoot 
and on horses, toward the camp. Valle and two men 
whose names I forget, came running up to Cheek and 
others and told them to catch their horses and es- 
cape. This Cheek refused to do, but seizing his 
rifle and pistols, said he would stay and abide his 
fate. "My time has come, but I will kill at least 
two of them, and then I don't care." His gloomy 
forebodings were about to be fulfilled through his 
own recklessness and obstinacy. Ayers ran fran- 
tically about, paralysed by fear and crying, "O God, 
O God, what can I do." Though a horse with 
within reach he was disabled by terror from mount- 

6 In the lists of the Fur Company's employees for 1812-13 is the 
name Frangois Oul and Frangois Oulle. In the journal of these 
years, this person is called "Woahl." To American ears the sound 
of Oul would suggest Hull. The writer of the journal who calls it 
Woahl, seems to have been a German. There was a Frangois Oule, 
and also a family named Hull, in St. Clair County, Illinois, about 
this time. Whether the man mentoined by James as Hull and the 
Oul who was with the expedition of 18 12 are identical, is a mat- 
ter of conjecture only, with the probabilities in favor of the affirma- 
tive. The St. Louis records afford no help. 

'^ Ayers has not been identified. There was an Ebenezer Ayers 
who settled with his family in St. Charles County in Spanish times, 
and a George Ayers on the Perruque in 1803, Houck's History of 
Missouri. 



74 [i8io] 

ing and saving his life. Courage and cowardice met 
the same fate, though in very different manners. Hull 
stood coolly examining his rifle as if for battle. The 
enemy were coming swiftly toward them, and Valle 
and his two companions started off pursued by 
mounted Indians. The sharp reports of Cheek's 
rifle and pistols were soon heard, doing the work of 
death upon the savages, and then a volley of mus- 
ketry sent the poor fellow to his long home. 

Lieutenant Emmel and another came in from hunt- 
ing, about dusk, ignorant of the fate of their fellows, 
and seeing the tent gone they supposed the place of 
the camp had been changed. Hearing a noise at the 
river, Emmel went down to the bank, whence he saw 
through the willows, on the opposite side, a camp of 
thirty Indian lodges, a woman coming down to the 
river with a brass kettle which he would have sworn 
was his own, and also a white man bound by both 
arms to a tree. He could not recognize the prisoner, 
but supposed he was an American. On returning to 
the place where Cheek had pitched his tent, he saw 
his dead body without the scalp, lying where he had 
bravely met his end. He then hastened to the Fort 
where his arrival has been noticed before. A greater 
part of the garrison, with myself, started out on the 
morning of my coming in to go in pursuit of the In- 
dians, up the river, and to bury our dead. We found 
and buried the corpses of our murdered comrades, 
Cheek and Ayers ; the latter being found in the river 
near the bank. Hull was never heard of, and two 



[i8io] ^^ 

others, Rucker' and Fleehart were also missing; be- 
ing killed or taken prisoners by the Indians. An In- 
dian was found dead, with two bullets in his body, 
supposed to be from Cheek's pistol. The body was 
carefully concealed under leaves and earth, and sur- 
rounded by logs. We followed the trail of the sav- 
ages for two days when we missed it and gave up 
the chase. Many of the men wished to pursue them 
into the mountains, but Col. Menard judged it im- 
prudent to go farther in search of them, as we should, 
probably, come upon an army of which this party 
was but a detachment. He thought the main body 
was very large, and not distant from us or the Fort, 
and therefore determined to return and await them 
there. We accordingly retraced our steps to the 
Fort, and remained in it, with our whole force, for 
several days, expecting an attack. No attack was 
made, however, nor did an enemy make his appear- 
ance afterwards, except in the shape of white, grey, 
brown and grizzly bears. Seeing nothing of our ene- 
mies, the Blackfeet, we soon became emboldened and 
ventured out of the Fort to hunt and trap, to the dis- 
tance of about six miles. In these short expeditions 
the men had frequent encountres with bears, which 
m this region are of enormous size, sometimes weigh- 
ing 800 pounds each, and when wounded, are the 
most terribly ferocious and dangerous to the hunter 
of all other animals. The African Lion and Bengal 
Tiger are the only beasts of prey, that in ferocity 

SRucker is an old name in Missouri. Fleehart was nrobablv a 
Pennsylvanian. Neither have been identified. P'-obably a 



76 [i8io] 

and power, can be compared with the Grey or Griz- 
zly Bear of the Rocky Mountains. These were the 
terrors of our men as much as were the Indians, and 
they usually spoke of them both as equally terrible 
and equally to be avoided. The great strength of 
the Bear, his swiftness and utter insensibility to 
danger when wounded, render him as dangerous to 
the hunter as the Tiger or the Lion. The first shot 
is seldom fatal upon him, on account of the thickness 
of his skin and skull, and the great quantity of fat 
and flesh that envelope his heart, and make an almost 
impenetrable shield in front. I will relate a few ad- 
ventures with this North American king of beasts, 
and then proceed with my narrative. 

Ware, an American, was hunting on an island in 
the Madison river, a short distance from the Fort 
and came suddenly, in a buffalo path, upon a white 
or grey Bear. He fired at the monster, wounded 
him in the breast, and then ran for his life, with the 
Bear at his heels, and saved himself by plunging into 
the river. His pursuer laid himself down on the 
bank and in the last struggle of death, fell into the 
water, where he died. Ware drew him out, took off 
the skin and was cutting and hanging up the meat, 
when he heard the noise of another Bear in the 
thicket near by. He hastened to the Fort for assist- 
ance and a party, with me, went over to the island. 
When there, we separated in our search, and in 
beating about the bushes, I, with my dog, entered a 
narrow path, and had gone some distance, when I 
saw the dog ahead, suddenly bristle up, bark and 



[i8io] 77 

walk lightly as if scenting danger. I called to the 
men to come up, and watched the dog. He soon 
found the bear guarding a dead elk, which he and 
his dead companion had killed and covered with 
leaves. As soon as he saw the dog he plunged at 
him, and came furiously toward me, driving the dog 
before him and snorting and raging like a mad bull. 
I leveled my gun and snapped, and then ran with the 
bear at my heels, and his hot breath upon me. I 
reached the river bank, and turned short up a path, 
in which I met my companions coming to my call. 
They, however, seeing me running, were panic 
stricken and took to their heels also, thus were we all 
in full retreat from bruin, who crossed the river and 
fled through the willows on the other side. We 
heard him crashing his way for many hundred yards. 
On another occasion, a party had wounded a bear 
which instantly gave chase and overtook a Shawnee 
Indian in the company named Luthecaw, who had 
stumbled over some brush, and fallen. He grasped 
the Indian by the double capeau and coat collar and 
stood over him, while we fired six shots into the bear, 
which fell dead upon the Indian, who cried out that 
the bear was crushing him to death, but arose unhurt, 
as soon as we removed the tremendous weight of the 
dead monster from his body. His jaws were firmly 
closed upon the Shawnee's "capeau" and coat collar, 
who arose at last with "sacre moste, Vest crazy 
monte" — "damn the bear, he, almost mashed me." 
We kept the flag flying a month, frequently seeing 
Indians without getting an interview with them; they 



78 [i8io] 

always fleeing at our approach. We then pulled 
down the flag and hoisted the scalp of the Indian 
whom Cheek had killed. By this time the Fort was 
completed and put in a good state of defence. We 
subsisted ourselves in the meantime, by hunting in 
small parties, which started out of Fort before day 
and went some twenty or thirty miles, and after hav- 
ing killed a buffalo or elk, come back with the meat 
loaded on the horses. 

The Grizzly Bears frequently made their ap- 
pearance and we killed great numbers of them. A 
Yankee, named Pelton,'' was remarkable for his con- 
tracted, narrow eyes, which resembled those of a 
bear. He was a jovial, popular fellow, and had 
greatly amused the company in coming up the river, 
by his songs and sermons. At every stopping place 
he held a meeting for the mock trial of offenders 
and exhorted us in the New England style to mend 
our courses and eschew sin. He had an adventure 
with a bear, about this time, which is worth relating. 
While trapping near the Fort with a small party, in- 

9 Archibald Pelton was born at Groton, Connecticut, probably be- 
tween 1790 and 1796. His parents were David Pelton and Hannah 
Millikin. David Pelton was a Revolutionary soldier. When a sec- 
tion of the Astoria party were making their way along the Snake 
river in December 181 1, they encountered "a young American who 
was deranged, but who sometimes recovered his reason. This young 
man told them, in one of his lucid intervals, that he was from 
Connecticut and was named Archibald Pelton; that he had come up 
the Missouri with Mr. Henry; that all of the people. at the post 
established by that trader were massacred by the Blackfeet; that he 
alone had escaped and had been wandering for three years since 
with the Snake Indians. Our people took this young man with 
them." Franchere's Narrative (Huntington's tr.), 148. See also 
Ross Cox, Adventures on the Columbia, Vol. i, p. 91. 



[i8io1 79 

eluding myself, he was watching his traps alone, a 
short distance from us, when he heard a rustling in 
the bushes at his right, and before turning around 
he was attacked by a large bear, which grasped him 
by the breast, bore him to the earth and stood over 
him with his head back and eyes fixed on his face as 
if observing his features; Pelton screamed and yelled 
in a most unearthly manner, and his new acquaint- 
ance, as if frightened by his appearance and voice, 
leaped from over his body, stood and looked at him 
a moment over his shoulder, growled and then 
walked off. We ran in the directions of the cries 
and soon met Pelton coming towards us in a walk, 
grumbling and cursing, with his head down, as if he 
had been disturbed in a comfortable sleep, and alto- 
gether wearing an air of great dissatisfaction. He 
told us the story, and thought he owed his escape to 
his bearish eyes which disconcerted his friendly rela- 
tion in the act of making a dinner of him. 

The Indians, we thought, kept the game away 
from the vicinity of the Fort. Thus we passed the 
time till the month of May, when a party of twenty- 
one, of whom I was one, determined to go up the 
Jefferson river to trap. By keeping together we 
hoped to repel any attack of the savages. We soon 
found the trapping in such numbers not very profit- 
able, and changed our plan by separating in compa- 
nies of four, of whom, two men would trap while 
two watched the camp. In this manner we were en- 
gaged until the fear of the Indians began to wear 



8o [1810] 

off and we all became more venturous. One of our 
company, a Shawnee half-breed named Druyer,^° the 
principal hunter of Lewis & Clark's party, went 
up the river one day and set his traps about a mile 
from the camp. In the morning he returned alone 
and brought back six beavers. I warned him of his 
danger. "I am too much of an Indian to be caught 
by Indians," said he. On the next day he repeated 
the adventure and returned with the product of his 
traps, saying, "this Is the way to catch beaver." On 
the third morning he started again up the river to 
examined his traps, when we advised him to wait for 
the whole party, which was about moving further 
up the stream, and at the same time two other Shaw- 
nees left us against our advice, to kill deer. We 
started forward In company, and soon found the 
dead bodies of the last mentioned hunters, pierced 
with lances, arrows and bullets and lying near each 
other. Further on, about one hundred and fifty 
yards, Druyer and his horse lay dead, the former 
mangled In a horrible manner; his head was cut off, 
his entrails torn out and his body hacked to pieces. 
We saw from the marks on the ground that he must 
have fought in a circle on horseback, and probably 
killed some of his enemies, being a brave man, and 
well armed with a rifle, pistol, knife and tomahawk. 
We pursued the trail of the Indians till night, with- 
out overtaking them, and then returned, having 
buried our dead, with saddened hearts to Fort. 

10 For sketch of George Drouillard, see Appendix. 



[i8io] 8i 

Soon after this time, Marie" and St John, my 
two Canadian companions on the route from my win- 
ter quarters on the Missouri to the Big Horn, came 
to the Fort at the Forks. Marie's right eye was out 
and he carried the yet fresh marks of a horrible 
wound on his head and under his jaw. After I had 
left them at the Big Horn to come to the Forks, they 
came on to the Twenty-five Yard river,^'^ the most 
western branch of the Yellow Stone, for the purpose 
of trapping. One morning after setting his traps, 
Marie strolled out into the prairie for game, and 
soon percevied a large White Bear rolling on the 
ground in the shade of a tree. Marie fired at and 
missed him. The bear snuffed around him without 
rising, and did not see the hunter until he had re- 
loaded, fired again and wounded him. His majesty 

11 There were families by the name of Marie in St. Louis and St. 
Charles about this time. In St. Louis was the family of Laperche 
dii St. Jean. But the individuals here named have not been iden- 
tified. 

12 "Shield's River received its name from Captain Clark, in 1806, 
in honor of one of his men [John Shields]. The trappers of early 
times called it Twenty five Yard creek, and it was a famous resort 
for them, abounding as it did with innumerable beaver. Two rea- 
sons are assigned for the name: its width, which isn't twenty five 
yards, but much less ; and the asserted fact that it rises only twenty 
five j'ards from the source of another stream, which I can neither 
affirm nor deny. Many sharp conflicts occurred here in olden times 
between the resolute trapper bands that were wont to frequent the 
locality and the vengeful Blackfeet who then lorded over it." Brad- 
ley's Journal, 2 Montana Historical Society Contributions, p. 152. 
Father de Smet visited the locality in 1842, and says of it: "At the 
mouth of the Twenty five Yard River, a branch of the Yellow Stone, 
we found 250 huts, belonging to the several nations all friendly to 
us — the Flat Heads, Kalispels, Pierced Noses, Kayuses and Snakes. 
I spent three days amongst them to exhort them to perseverance, and 
to make some preparations for my long journey" [to St. Louis]. Let- 
ters and Sketches, 1843, p. 234. Its junction with the Yellow Stone 
is in Gallatin County, Montana. 



82 [i8io] 

instantly, with ears set back, flew towards his enemy 
like an arrow, who ran for his life, reached a beaver 
dam across the river, and seeing no escape by land, 
plunged into the water above the dam. The Bear 
followed and soon proved himself as much superior 
to his adversary in swimming as in running. Marie 
dove and swam under the water as long as he could, 
when he rose to the surface near the Bear. He saved 
himself by diving and swimming in this manner sev- 
eral times, but his enemy followed close upon him 
and watched his motions with the sagacity which dis- 
tinguishes these animals. At last he came up from 
under the water, directly beneath the jaws of the 
monster, which seized him by the head, the tushes 
piercing the scalp and neck under the right jaw and 
crushing the ball of his right eye. In this situation 
with his head in the Bear's mouth and he swimming 
with him ashore, St. John having heard his two 
shots in quick succession, came running to his rescue. 
St. John levelled his rifle and shot the Bear in the 
head, and then dragged out Marie from the water 
more dead than alive. I saw him six days after- 
wards, with a swelling on his head an inch thick, and 
his food and drink gushed through the opening un- 
der his jaw, made by the teeth of his terrible enemy. 
We made frequent hunting excursions in small 
parties, in which nothing of consequence occurred. 
Many of us had narrow escapes from Indians and 
still narrower from the Grizzly and White Bears. 
Game became very scarce and our enemies seemed 
bent upon starving us out. We all became tired of 



[i8io] 83 

this kind of life, cooped up in a small enclosure and 
in perpetual danger of assassination when outside 
the pickets. The Blackfeet manifested so determined 
a hatred and jealousy of our presence, that we could 
entertain no hope of successfully prosecuting our 
business, even if we could save our lives, in their 
country. Discouraged by the prospect before us 
most of the Americans prepared to go back to the 
settlements, while Col. Henry and the greater part 
of the company,^^ with a few Americans were get- 
ting ready to cross the mountains and go onto the 
Columbia beyond the vicinity of our enemies. A 
party which had been left at Manuel's Fort, for the 
purpose, had brought up one of the boats and part 
of the goods from the "cache" on the Yellow Stone 
below the Fort, as far as Clark's river,^* where, on 
account of the rapidity of the current, they had been 
compelled to leave them. Thither Menard went 
with men and horses to get the goods for the trip to 

13 Henry's party. "They proceeded in a southwardly direction, 
crossed the mountains near the source of the Yellow Stone river, 
and wintered in 18 10- 11 on the waters of the Columbia. At this 
position they suffered much for provisions, and were compelled to 
live for some months entirely upon their horses. The party by this 
time had become dispirited, and began to separate; some returned 
into the United States by way of the Missouri, others made their 
way south into the Spanish settlement, by way of the Rio del Norte." 
Letter of Major Thomas Biddle,' American State Papers, Indian Af- 
fairs, Vol. 2, p. 201. The names of the party, so far as recovered, 
were Andrew Henry, Michael E. Immel, John Dougherty, William 
Weir, Nicholas Glineau, Archibald Pelton, Edward Robinson, John 
Hoback and Jacob Reasoner. 

1* Clark's river, or fork, heads in the northern part of Yellow- 
stone Park and runs for about thirty miles in a southeastern direc- 
tion then with a wide bend turns northeastwardly for about sixty 
five miles, entering the Missouri near the northeast corner of Car- 
bon County, Montana. 



84 [i8io] 

the Columbia, and I accompanied him with most of 
the Americans on our way back to civilized life and 
the enjoyments of home. When we reached the 
Twenty-five Yard river we met one hundred and 
fifty Indians of the Gros Ventre tribe. One of the 
men observing a new calico shirt belonging to him, 
around the neck of an Indian, Informed Menard of 
his suspicions that this party had robbed the "cache" 
(from the French, cacher to hide) of the goods which 
they had hid in the earth near the bank of the Yel- 
low Stone, in the fall before. Menard questioned 
them, but they denied the theft, saying they got the 
calico at the trading house. In the evening they en- 
trenched themselves behind breastworks of logs and 
brush, as if fearing an attack from us, and in the 
morning, departed on an expedition against the 
Snakes, of which miserable nation, we heard after- 
wards, they killed and took for slaves a large num- 
ber. Thus the whales of this wilderness destroy the 
minnows. Here we made three canoes of buffalo 
bull's skins, by sewing together two skins, for each 
canoe, and then stretching them over a frame sim- 
ilar in shape to a Mackinaw boat. Our canoe con- 
tained three men, about sixty steel traps, five hun- 
dred beaver skins, our guns and amunltlon, besides 
other commodities. Nine of us started down the 
river In these canoes and in two days reached Clark's 
river where the boats with the goods was awaiting 
us. The rest with the horses by land. Clark's river 
enters the Yellow Stone from the south; near its 
mouth we found an army of the Crow nation en- 



[i8io] 85 

camped. This is a wandering tribe like most of the 
Indians in this region, without any fixed habitation. 
These were then at war with the Blackfeet, whom 
they were seeking to give battle. Having remained 
with us a few days, they went off towards the south. 
One of our hunters came into camp, on the evening 
of the day when they had departed, and informed 
us of a large force of Indians about four miles to 
the north, stationed behind a breast-work of rock 
and earth near a cliff. These were supposed to be 
Blackfeet, and early in the morning, the land party 
with the horses, having arrived, we mustered our 
whole force and went out to attack them in their en- 
trenchment. We were all eager for the fight, and 
advancing upon them in Indian style, we discovered 
instead of Blackfeet, about a hundred warriors of 
the Crow nation, who had been out in an expedition 
against the Blackfeet and had just returned. They 
were a detachment from the army which had left us 
the day before. They marched into our camp on 
horse, two abreast, and there learning from us the 
news of their comrades, they immediately crossed 
the river in pursuit of them. Their manner of cross- 
ing the river was singular, and reminded me of the 
roving Tartars. They stripped themselves entirely 
naked, and every ten piled their accountrements to- 
gether, blankets, saddles, weapons, &c., on a tent 
skin made of buffalo robes, and tying it up in a large 
round bundle, threw it into the river and plunged 
after, some swimming with these hugh heaps, float- 
ing like corks, and others riding the horses or hold- 



86 [i8io] 

ing by the tails till they had all crossed the river. Ar- 
rived on the opposite bank, which they reached in 
little less time than I have taken to describe their 
passage, they dressed, mounted their horses, and 
marched off two and two, as before, and were 
quickly out of our sight. 

Here we parted from our companions, who were 
going to the Columbia, and who returned hence to 
the Forks with the goods and ammunition for thier 
trip, while we, the homeward bound, continued our 
course down the river in the canoes and the boats 
they had left, to the Fort on the Big Horn. We re- 
mained here several days, repairing a keel boat left 
by Manuel two years before, which we loaded with 
the goods from the canoes, and then recommenced 
our descent of the Yellow Stone with the canoes and 
two boats. Col. Menard accompanied us in one of 
the boats, and I with two companions kept to our 
canoe in advance of the others for the purpose of 
killing game. On reaching the place cacheing the 
goods and leaving the boats, on account of the ice 
the year before, Menard verified his suspicions of 
the Gros Ventres whom he met on the Twenty-five 
Yard river. The pit containing the goods and effects 
of the men had been opened and forty trunks robbed 
of their contents. Another pit containing the com- 
pany's goods had also been opened, and the most 
valuable of its store left by Menard, was taken off 
by the Gros Ventres. They had also cut up and 
nearly destroyed the boats. We repaired one with 
the fragments of the other, and then passed down 



[i8io] 87 

the river with three boats. I kept ahead as before 
in my skin canoe. This river is very rapid through- 
out its whole course, and very shallow. We were 
now near the Falls which are difficult and dangerous 
of navigation. In the morning I killed two buffalo 
with my pistol and rifle, and my two companions 
killed two more, which we cut up and stowed away. 
We approached the Falls sooner than we expected, 
and were directing our course to the left side among 
the sunken rocks and breakers, where we would cer- 
tainly have been lost, when we heard a gun behind 
and saw the men on the boats waving us with hand- 
kerchiefs to the right. We were barely able to gain 
the channel, when the canoe shot down the descent 
with wonderful rapidity. We flew along the water 
like a sledge down an icy hill. My two companions 
lay in the bottom of the canoe, which frequently re- 
bounded from the waves made by the rocks under 
the water and stood nearly upright. The waves 
washed over us and nearly filled the canoe with wa- 
ter. The boats behind commenced the descent soon 
after we had ended it in safety. They several times 
struck and one of them hung fast on a concealed 
rock. We hauled our canoe ashore, carried it above, 
and coming down to the foundered boat and light- 
ing it of part of its load, we got it off the rocks. We 
now passed rapidly down to the Missouri river, 
where I left my friendly canoe and went aboard one 
one the boats. Here my spirits were cheered with 
the near prospect of home. I longed to see the fa- 
miliar faces of kindred and friends with a yearning 



88 [iBio] 

of the heart, which few can reahze who have not 
wandered as I had done, among savages and wild 
beasts and made the earth my bed and the sky my 
canopy for more than a year. My way homeward 
was clear and comparatively safe; the tribes along 
the river being friendly, or if hostile, unable to an- 
noy us as the Blackfeet had done so long in the 
prairies. 

In my wanderings in this expedition I saw much 
of the Indians and their manner of living. Those in 
this region were then more savage, less degraded, 
and more virtuous than they are at the present time. 
The white man and his "fire water" have sadly de- 
moralized them, thinned their numbers, and will 
soon sink them into oblivion. They are no longer 
the proud, haughty, simple minded warriors and 
orators that I found so many of them to be in 1809- 
'10. Sunk in poverty and intemperance, they are 
fast dwindling away. I have seen some of the finest 
specimens of men among our North American In- 
dians. I have seen Chiefs with the dignity of real 
Princes and the eloquence of real orators, and 
Braves with the valor of the ancient Spartans. Their 
manner of speaking is extremely dignified and ener- 
getic. They gesticulate with infinite grace, freedom 
and animation. Their words flow deliberately, con- 
veying their ideas with great force and vividness of 
expression, deep into the hearts of their hearers. 
Among their speakers I recognized all the essentials 
in manner of consumate orators. I shall have oc- 
casion, in the following chapters to bring out some 



[i8io] 89 

of their nobler qualities in bolder relief than was 
possible in the preceding, on account of the more 
intimate relations I afterwards formed with these 
children of nature and the prairies. 

In five days after entering the Missouri, we de- 
scended to the Gros Ventres village and our Fort, 
and were there joyfully received by our old compan- 
ions. Whiskey flowed like milk and honey in the 
land of Canaan, being sold to the men by the disin- 
terested and benevolent gentlemen of the Missouri 
Fur Company, for the moderate sum of twelve dol- 
lars per gallon, ^^ they taking in payment beaver 
skins at one dollar and a half each, which were 
worth in St. Louis, six. Their prices for every thing 
else were in about the same proportion. Even at 
this price some of the men bought whiskey by the 
bucket full, and drank 

'' 'Till they forgot their loves and debts 
And cared for grief na mair." 

During the carousal an incident occurred that 
nearly brought ruin upon us all. Three Shawnese 
Indians in the company from Kaskaskia, had started 
from the Upper Yellow Stone in a skin canoe, in ad- 
vance, and had arrived a day or two before us. In 
their way down, one of them named Placota had 
wantonly killed a Crow Indian on the Yellow Stone, 
and a Gros Ventre on the Missouri, about sixty miles 
above the village, and taken their scalps. In his 
drunken fit Placota brought out one of these scalps 

^^ "Mountain prices," of which those here mentioned are not un- 
usual, prevailed in the Upper Missouri Country for many years. 
See Schultz's My Life as an Indian, Chapter i ; Wislizenus, A Jour- 
ney to the Rocky Mountains in 1S39, p. 87, and Townsend's Narra- 
tive (Thwaites' Early Western Travels), p. 193. 



90 [i8io] 

in full view of the friendly Gros Ventres. Menard 
caught it out of his hand and hid it from view. The 
Indians became greatly excited, crowded around us 
and demanded to know whose scalp it was. Menard 
then produced to them the scalp of the Indian whom 
Cheek had killed and which they had seen before. 
They said this was a "dry" and the other a "green" 
scalp. We at last, and with great difficulty, pacified 
them and quieted their suspicions. Placota, who was 
raging mad, by Menard's orders was tied behind 
the trading house till he became sober, when I re- 
leased him on his promise of good behavior. 

This tribe was then very powerful, having in all 
five villages, and mustering, in case of emergency, as 
many as three thousand warriors. I have already 
noticed their character and warlike qualities. A 
singular custom prevails among them in cutting off 
a finger or inflicting a severe wound in remembrance 
of any severe misfortune. Few of the men thirty 
years of age, were without the marks of these 
wounds, made on the death of some near relation, 
or on occasion of a defeat of the nation in war. Some 
I saw with three and one with four fingers cut off. 
I saw a young man bewailing the death of his fa- 
ther in a battle with the Blackfeet. He had com- 
pelled his friends to draw leather cords through the 
flesh under his arms and on his back, and attaching 
three Buffalo skulls, weighing at least twenty-five 
pounds, to the ends of the cords he dragged them 
over the ground after him through the village, moan- 
ing and lamenting in great distress. At their meals, 
the Indians on the Missouri, throw the first piece of 



[i8io] 91 

meat in the direction of an absent friend. In smok- 
ing they send the first whiff upwards in honor of the 
Great Spirit, the second downward as a tribute to 
their great mother, the third to the right and the 
fourth to the left, in thanks to the Great Spirit for 
the game He sends them so abundantly on the bosom 
of the earth. Their name for Chief is Inca, the 
same as that of the South American and Mexican 
Indians. ^^ For knife they say messa; for horses, co- 
walla. A comparison of their languages will show 
an identity in their origin and race. They secure 
their dead by setting four poles, forked at the top, 
and about twenty-five feet in height, in the ground. 
On these they put a scaffold of buffalo skin, fas- 
tened to the poles, and on this the corpse is placed, 
covered by a buffalo skin bound around it very 
tightly. In this way the corpse is protected from 
from the birds and beasts, and this it remains till the 
scaffold falls by decay. The bones are then gath- 
ered by the relatives and put Into a common heap. 
I saw in the rear of the Gros Ventre village an im- 
mense extent of ground covered by these tombs In 
the air, and near by was a heap of skulls and bones 
which had fallen to the earth from these air graves. 
After a few day's stay at the Fort and village, we 
again started down the river with Col, Menard and 
two boats. We arrived at St. Louis in the month of 

1® James' recollection of the Minitaree (or Hidatsa) language was 
evidently influenced by his southwestern experiences. Dr. Matthews 
sa_vs that the Minitaree word for chief is matscetsi; for knife is 
maetsi, and for horse is ita-sua-suka. Maximilian gives the same 
words in this way: chief, uassa-issis ; knife, mahtsi; horse, eisoh- 
ivaschakak. It seems like each is trying to express in European 
characters the same sounds. 



92 [i8io] 

August, A. D, 1810, without any occurrence of in- 
terest on the voyage. We never got our dues or any 
thing of the least simihtude to justice from the com- 
pany. They brought me in their debt two hundred 
dollars, and some of the other Americans, for still 
larger sums. The reader may ask how this could be. 
He can easily imagine the process when he is told 
that the company charged us six dollars per pound 
for powder, three dollars for lead, six dollars for 
coarse calico shirts, one dollar and a half per yard 
for coarse tow linen for tents, the same for a com- 
mon butcher knife, and so on, and allowed us only 
what I have mentioned for our beaver skins, our 
only means of payment. Capt. Lewis told me not to 
lay in any supplies in St. Louis, as the Company had 
plenty and would sell them to me as cheaply as I 
could get them in St. Louis, or nearly so, allowing 
only for a reasonable profit. Lewis did not intend 
to deceive us and was chagrined at the villanous con- 
duct of the Company afterwards. This, with the 
fraudulent violation of their contracts and promises 
in the Indian country, by this concern, makes up a 
piece of extortion, fraud and swindling, that ought 
to consign the parties engaged in it to eternal infamy. 
The heaviest blame must rest on the unprincipled 
Liza; but the rest of the company must suffer the 
stigma of having connived at and profited by the 
villany, if they did not actually originate and urge it 
onward. I sued them on my contract,^^ and was the 

1'^ After James' return to St. Louis, William Clark, as agent for 
the Fur Company, sued him on a note for $249.81. This suit was 
brought in September 1810. The next month James sued the part- 



[i8io] 93 

only one who did so. After many delays and con- 
tinuances from term to term, I was glad to get rid 
of the suits and them, by giving my note for one 
hundred dollars to the Company. This, with my 
debt to Colter,^* made me a loser to the amount of 
three hundred dollars by one years trapping on the 
head water of the Missouri. Some of the Ameri- 
cans, however, fared much worse, and were deterred 
from returning to the settlement at all, by their debts 
to the Company, which they were hopeless of dis- 
charging by any ordinary business in which they 
could engage. Such is one instance of the kind and 
considerate justice of wealth to defenceless poverty, 
beautifully illustrating the truth of the sentiment ut- 
tered by somebody, "take care of the rich and the 
rich will take care of the poor." 

ners in the company for breach of contract, laying his damages at 
the sum of $750. The cases were set for trial several times, but the 
witnesses subpoenaed by both parties were, excepting one on each 
side, not to be found, and both cases were finally dismissed. The wit- 
nesses subpoenaed by James were John Colter, Daniel Larrison, Sol- 
omon Thorn and John A. Graham. Graham was a lawyer and the 
attesting witness to the contract between the parties. Larrison was 
one of Lisa's men, and it is to be inferred that Thorn was also. Col- 
ter was the only one found. The company subpoenaed Paul Liguest 
Chouteau and Duverge de Villemont. They could have known 
nothing about the matter unless they were up the river, but the sub- 
poena is the only evidence of the fact that de Villemont was there. 
In October 18 14, the company again brought suit on James note, 
and this is probably the case which he settled, as the records show 
no judgment. Thorn, mentioned above, was a gunsmith. He came 
to Louisiana in 1798 or 1799, and made his home at Cape Girar- 
deau, where he died about 1821. De Villemont was the son of a 
Spanish commandant of Arkansas. 

IS In October 18 14, Colter's administrator brought suit in the St. 
Louis Court of Common Pleas aganist James on a note given by 
James to Colter, dated 7 October, 1809, for one hundred and forty 
dollars. The case was settled without a trial. 



CHAPTER THREE 

Employment From 1810 to 1821 — The First Santa Fe Traders — 
Members of the Fourth Santa Fe Expedition — Ascent of the 
Arkansas — Vaugean — Removal of the Town of Little Rock — 
Fort Smith and Major Bradford — Trading With the Osages — 
Capt. Prior — Salt River — Salt Plains and Shining Mountains — 
Robbery by the Indians — Sufferings From Thirst — Attack by the 
Indians — Further Robberies — The One Eyed Chief and Big 
Star — Indian Council — Critical Situation — Rescue by Spanish 
Officers — Cordaro — Journey Continued — San Migual — Peccas and 
Its Indian Inhabitants — Santa Fe — Farming. 

AFTER my return from the Upper Missouri, I 
went in the fall of 1 8 lo to Pennsylvania, where 
I remained two years and married. I returned to 
St. Louis, in the fall of 1813, procured a keel-boat 
and with it, navigated the Ohio and Mississippi, be- 
tween Pittsburgh and St. Louis, carrying goods for 
large profits. I continued in this business till the 
fall of 1 8 15, when I took a stock of goods from Mc- 
Knight & Brady^ of St. Louis, and opened a store in 




1 John McKnight was 
born in Augusta 
County, Virginia. 
He came to St. 
Louis on I April, 1S09, in company with Thomas Brady, with 
whom he had formed a mercantile partnership. They brought with 
them a Keel boat load of merchandise, and from that small begin- 
ning they built up the largest mercantile business in St. Louis. They 
acquired a large amount of land in Missouri and in Illinois, and 
the towns of East St. Louis and Harrisonville in Illinois were built 

94 



[1815-1820] 95 

Harrisonville,- Illinois, dividing profits equally 
among us. In the fall of 1818, I went to Baltimore 
with letters of recommendation and bought goods 
for cash and on credit to the amount of seventeen 
thousand dollars, and brought them in waggons to 
Pittsburgh where I left them to await a rise of the 
river, which was too low for navigation, and came 
to St. Louis. My goods were not sent on till the 
following spring, when they had greatly fallen in 
price and the market was filled with a large supply. 
I was unable to dispose of my stock even at cost. I 
struggled on through the years i8i9-'20, with the 
certain prospect of bankruptcy before my face, amid 
the clamors of creditors, and without the hope of 
extricating myself from the impending ruin. About 
this time Baum, Beard, and Chambers,^ with some 
others, came to St. Louis from Santa Fe, where they 
had been imprisoned by the Government ever since 
the year 18 10. They, with Robert, brother of John 
McKnight of the firm of McKnight and Brady, and 

on land which had belonged to them. McKnight's parents, Tim- 
othy McKnight and Eleanor Griffin, with five other sons and six 
daughters, also came to Missouri at about the same time with him- 
self, and made their homes in St. Louis County where some of their 
descendants still live. John McKnight never married. 

Thomas Brady died near St. Louis ii October, 1821, leaving a 
widow and five children. His widow, who was a daughter of Judge 
John Rice Jones, later married Hon. John Scott. 

- Harrisonville, is situated on the Mississippi River in the Amer- 
ican Bottom, in Monroe County, Illinois, thirty miles south of St. 
Louis. In 1823 it contained thirty or forty houses, was a shipping 
point for the interior country and was a place of considerable busi- 
ness importance. It was subject to inundation, and that, with the 
building of railroads, caused it to decline. It now has a popula- 
tion of about one hundred and fifty persons. 

2 See sketch of James Baird, in Appendix. 



96 [iSzi] 

eight others, were the first American Santa Fe trad- 
ers* that carried goods from St. Louis to New Mex- 
ico. Immediately on reaching Santa Fe their goods 
were confiscated by the Governor, sold at public 
auction, and themselves taken to Chihuahua and 
there thrown into prison, where they were kept in 
more or less strict confinement for the space of ten 
years, being supported during that time by the pro- 
ceeds of McKnight's goods, the Government allow- 
ing i8^ cents per day to each man. This, I believe, 
was the second company of Americans that ev^er en- 
tered Santa Fe. Clem Morgan,^' a Portuguese and 
very wealthy, made his way thither at a very early 
day, while Louisiana belonged to Spain, and re- 
turned in safety, making a good venture. Gen. Zeb- 
ulon Pike was the first American visitor to that 
country. He went in the year 1807, and on his ar- 
rival was marched through Mexico as a prisoner of 
war, but was soon after released on demand of our 
Gov^ernment. One of his men was detained thirteen 
years by the Spaniards, and returned with Chambers 
to St. Louis. Pike in the beginning of our last war 
with England, met a soldier's death at Queenston 

4 The Santa Fe Trade. The history of the trade from Missouri 
to Santa Fe is so well presented in Chittenden's American Fur Trade 
of the Far JVest (Volume 2), that there is no occasion to restate it 
here. Extracts from the Louisiana Gazette (of St. Louis) relating 
to the expedition of Messrs. Smith, McLanahan and Patterson are 
given in the Appendix. Further information relating to the trade 
can be found in Gregg's Commerce of the Prairies, Becknell's Jour- 
nal in 2 Missouri Historical Society Collections, No. 6, p. 55, and 
Col. Marmaduke's Journal in 6 Missouri Historical Rcvieiu i. In- 
man's TJie Santa Fe Trail is a readable, popular account of the sub- 
ject, but not at all to be depended upon for facts. 

^ For sketch of Jacques Glamorgan, see Appendix. 



[i82i] 97 

Heights. The second company from the United 
States was McKnight's and their treatment has been 
noticed. The third was under the command of 
Augustus Chouteau and Demun'' of St. Louis, and 
was composed entirely of French. They made a 
very unsuccessful venture, being deprived of their 
goods worth $40,000, without the least remunera- 
tion, and themselves imprisoned for a short time. I 
commanded the fourth expedition to Santa Fe from 
the United States, and the first that was made after 
the Mexican Revolution and the declaration of their 
independence of Spain, and I was the first American 
that ever visited the country and escaped a prison 
while there. John McKnight desired to go to Mex- 
ico to see his brother, procure his release if he were 
still in prison, and return with him to the States. The 
first information he had received, concerning Rob- 
ert, in ten years, came by his companions above 
named, who had left him in the interior of Mexico. 
He proposed that I should take my goods and ac- 
company him, and supposed that under Spanish pro- 
tection we could go unmolested by the Government. 
The news of the Revolution had not yet reached this 
country. This appeared to be the best course to re- 
trieve my affairs, and I prepared for the journey by 
procuring a passport from Don Onis, the Spanish 
Minister, countersigned by John Q. Adams, then 
Secretary of State under Monroe. I loaded a keel 
boat with goods to the value of $10,000, and laid in 

6 Sketches of Auguste Pierre Chouteau and Jules de Mun will be 
found in the Appendix. 



98 [i82i] 

a large quantity of biscuit, whiskey, flour, lead and 
powder, for trading with the Indians on the route. I 
started from St. Louis on the loth day of May, 
A. D. 1 82 1, and descended the Mississippi to the 
mouth of the Arkansas. The company consisted, 
besides myself, of McKnIght, my brother, John G. 
James, ^ David KIrker,* Wm. Shearer,^ Alexander 
Howard, Benjamin Potter, ^'^ John Ivy, and Francois 
Maesaw, a Spaniard. Two joined us after starting, 
Frederick Hector at the mouth of the Ohio, and 
James Wilson In the Cherokee country, making 
eleven In all, young and daring men, eager for ex- 
citement and adventure. Ascending the Arkansas, 
the first settlement we reached was "Eau Post,"^^ 

^ John G. James married, 4 February, 1812, Julie Creely, of 
Florissant, and lived on the Charbonniere Road near that village. 
He died in February 1834, leaving his widow, five sons and four 
daughters surviving. One of his sons was Samuel James, a sketch 
of whose life appears in Scharf's History of St, Louis, 

8 David Kirker, of St. Louis, was an Irishman from Belfast, and 
was a kinsman of James Kirker, also of St. Louis, who became 
famous or notorious in the Southwest. David Kirker was a farmer, 
and lived in the McKnight neighborhood in St. Louis County; he 
married 2 March, 1826, Mariah Robinson; a daughter, Anne Jane, 
was born to them 28 November, 1828. Kirker died within a few 
years after his marriage and his widow married John Z. Mackay, 
3 February 1831. 

^ The estate of William Shearer was administered upon in the St. 
Louis Probate Court, but the files are missing excepting the admin- 
istration bond which bears date 26 February, 1825. Hamilton Car- 
ruthers was the administrator, and James Kirker and James Lans- 
dell were his sureties. 

1° Fowler says, under date 7 May, 1822, "Potter Came to Camp 
with Conl. glann's Horse," Journal, p. 137, No other mention of 
Potter has been found. Neither Howard, Ivy, or Maesaw have been 
identified. 

11 Au Paste, or the Paste aux Arkansas, now called Arkansas Post, 
is a small village on the north side of the Arkansas River about 
forty five miles from the Mississippi. It is supposed to be the old- 
est white settlement in the Mississippi Valley; its first European in- 



[i82i] 99 

inhabited principally by French. A few days after- 
wards we arrived in the country of the Quawpaws, 
where we met with a Frenchman named Veaugean/^ 
an old man of considerable wealth, who treated us 
with hospitality. His son had just returned from 
hunting with a party of Quawpaws and had been at- 
tacked by the Pawnees, who killed several of his In- 
dian companions. Pawnee was then the name of all 
the tribes that are now known as Camanches. I had 
never known or heard of any Indians of that name 
before I visited their country on my way to Santa Fe. 
The Americans previously knew them only as Pawn- 
ees. The account brought by Veaugean's son sur- 
prised me, as we had heard that all the Indians on 
our route were friendly. Leaving Veaugean's, we 
proceeded up the river through a very fertile coun- 

habitants were some of Tonti's men who established themselves there 
in 1686. The number of its inhabitants in recent years has been 
about one hundred persons. 

12 The first of the Vaugines In Louisiana was a French officer, said 
to have borne the title of Marquis and to have been a chevalier of 
the Royal and Military Order of St. Louis, who remained in the 
country and held command of a body of troops under the King of 
Spain. His wife was Antoinette Pelagic d'Eliverliers. The Vau- 
gine (Veaugean), mentioned here by James, was their son, Frangois 
Nuisment Vaugine. 

He went with Don Joseph Bernard Valliere to Arkansas in 1787, 
Valliere being then the commandant of the countrj^, and under him 
Vaugine held the rank of Adjutant Major. He married Marie Fe- 
licite, daughter of Valliere and Marie Felicite Moran, by whom he 
had six children, of whom the eldest, Etienne, was probably the one 
who had been out with the hunting party. 

Nuttall {Travels in Arkansas Territory, p. 138, Thwaites' ed.) 
met the elder Vaugine at his home, four miles below Pine Bluff, and 
speaks of him as Major Lewismore Vaugine, Nuisment evidently 
having the sound of Lewismore to his English ears. Vaugine died 
in the early part of 183 1. Descendants of the name are still living 
in Arkansas. 



loo [1821] 

try. Dense and heavy woods of valuable timber 
lined both sides of the river, both below "Eau Post" 
and above as far as we went, and the river bottoms, 
which are large, were covered by extensive cane- 
brakes, which appeared impenetrable even by the 
rattlesnake. Small fields of corn, squash and pump- 
kins, cultivated by Indians, appeared in view on the 
low banks of the river. Since entering the Arkansas 
we had found the country quite level; after sailing 
and pushing about three hundred miles from the 
mouth, we now reached the first high land, near 
Little Rock," the capital of the Territory as estab- 
lished that spring. The archives had not yet been 
removed from Eau Post, the former capital. As we 
approached Little Rock we beheld a scene of true 
Western life and character, that no other country 
could present. First we saw a large wood and stone 
building in flames, and then about one hundred men, 
painted, masked and disguised in almost every con- 
ceivable manner, engaging in removing the town. 
These men, with ropes and chains, would march off 
a frame house on wheels and logs, place it about 

13 Little Rock owed its beginning mainly to Missourians. The 
first town was laid out in 1820 by William O'Hara of St. Louis and 
James Bryan of Washington County, Missouri. Stephen F. Austin, 
Bryan's brother in law, was also interested. To this new town they 
gave the name of Arkopolis. The title to the ground was claimed 
by William Russell, whose claim was sustained by the Court. Rus- 
sell and his associates laid out a town on the site of Arkopolis in 
1821 and named it Little Rock. There was no stone house there 
when James visited the place in 1821, and what he remembered as 
such war a log structure, too heavy too move, which was destroyed 
by the explosion of gunpowder which set fire to the ruins. The 
main town grew up on Russell's land, and he gave the ground on 
which the capitol was built. See Hempstead's History of Arkansas. 



[l82l] lOI 

three or four hundred yards from its former site and 
then return and move off another in the same man- 
ner. They all seemed tolerably drunk, and among 
them I recognized almost every European language 
spoken. They were a jolly set indeed. Thus they 
worked amid songs and shouts, until by nightfall 
they had completely changed the site of their town. 
Such buildings as they could not move they burned 
down, without a dissentient voice. The occasion of 
this strange proceeding was as follows : The Terri- 
torial Court was then in session at Diamond Hill, 
about thirty miles distant on the river above, and 
the news had reached Little Rock on the morning 
of our arrival, that a suit pending in this court and 
involving the title to the town, wherein one Rus- 
selP* of St. Louis was the claimant, had gone against 

1* William Russell was born in Frederick County, Virginia, 3 June 
1777, and died at St. Louis, 14 July 1857. In his youth he adopted 
the calling of surveyor. He left Virginia in 1803 to seek a new 
home in the Southwest. He travelled on horseback, visiting and ex- 
amining the towns on the way, and reached Kaskaskia in Novem- 
ber. After a short stay at that place he started for St. Louis, but 
when he reached Cahokia he found the Mississippi impassible be- 
cause of the running ice. He spent sometime at Prairie du Rocher 
and at Kaskaskia and finally succeeded in crossing the river early 
in February, reaching St. Louis on the eighth of that month, while 
the country was still under Spanish rule. Here he found a situa- 
tion answerable to his desires, and here he made his home. His ser- 
vices as land surveyor were soon in demand, and he presently be- 
gan to purchase land on his own account. 

On 3 July 1811, he was licensed by Judge Lucas to practice law, 
but he never actively identified himself with the bar. He followed 
his original bent, and became the owner of a great amount of land 
in both Missouri and Arkansas. In 1829, he bought a farm in the 
Petite Prairie, in what is now South St. Louis, and there established 
his home. His house, now in ruins, still stands at Russell Avenue 
and Ninth Streets. Mr. Russell was a man of education, and the 
possessor of a good library, a portion of which is now owned by 
the Missouri Historical Society. He had but one child, a daughter, 



102 [l82l] 

the citizens of Little Rock and in favor of Russell. 
The whole community instantly turned out en masse 
and in one day and night Mr. Russell's land was dis- 
encumbered of the Town of Little Rock. They coolly 
and quietly, though not without much unnecessary 
noise, took the town up and set it down on a neigh- 
boring claim of the Quawpaw tribe, and fire re- 
moved what was irremovable in a more convenient 
way. The free and enlightened citizens of Little 
Rock made a change of landlords more rapidly than 
Bonaparte took Moscow. 

Here I saw Matthew Lyon,^'' then quite an old 
man, canvassing for Congress. He was a man of 
some note in John Adam's administration, by whom 
he was imprisoned under the Alien and Sedition 
Law. He came into Little Rock, with the judge and 
lawyers, from Diamond Hill, the day after the grand 
moving of the town. He rode a mule, which had 
thrown him into a bayou, and his appearance as he 
came in, covered with mud from head to foot, was 
a subject of much laughter for his companions and 
the town of Little Rock, which had now begun to 
assume a look of some age, being just twenty-four 
hours old. Lyon was not returned to Congress and 
he died a few years afterwards. In 1824 I saw his 
grave at Spadre, in the Cherokee country, where he 
had kept a trading establishment. 

Before I left Little Rock I procured a license 

Ann, who on 12 July 1842, became the wife of Thomas Allen. A 
number of their descendants are now living in St. Louis. 
15 A sketch of Lyon will be found in the Appendix. 



[i82i] 103 

to trade with all the Indian tribes on the Arkan- 
sas and its tributaries, from Secretary Charles Crit- 
tenden/*' Governor Miller being out of the Terri- 
tory. I gave bond in the sum of $3,000, with Judge 
Scott^^ as security, to observe the laws of the United 
States, and it always appeared to me that I was 
entitled to indemnity from my country for the rob- 
beries which I suffered from the Indians. My losses 
in this way were tremendous and have weighed me 
down to the earth from that day to this, the best 
portion of my life; but not one cent have I ever been 
able to obtain from the justice of Congress, whose 
laws I was bound to obey, whose license from the 
hands of a government officer I carried with me, 
and who by every rule of justice was bound to pro- 
tect me in a business which it authorized by license 
and regulated by heavy penalties. 

16 Robert Crittenden (not Charles) was born in Kentucky in 1797 
and died at Vicksburg 18 December, 1834. He was a brother of 
John J. Crittenden, the famous Kentucky Senator. He served in the 
army in the war of 18 12. He was appointed secretary of Arkansas 
Territory 3 March, 1819, and continued in that office until 1829. 
During a considerable portion of his term he was the acting gov- 
ernor. He was a brilliant lawyer and a popular man. 

1'^ Andrew Scott was born in Hanover County, Virginia, in 1788. 
He came to Missouri about 1805 and made his home at Potosi in 
Washington County, where he entered upon the practice of law. 
In 1 8 12 he was elected clerk of the Territorial Legislature, and was 
re-elected from time to time until he vacated the office by leaving 
the Territory. In 1808 he was appointed, by President Monroe, Judge 
of the Superior Court of the Territory of Arkansas and removed 
from Potosi to Arkansas Post. He was a man of much legal and 
judicial ability, and of the highest character, and throughout a long 
life was a universally respected citizen. He died in Pope County, 
Arkansas, at his farm, to which he gave the name Scotia, 13 March 
1851. He married at Potosi, Eliza, the eldest daughter of John Rice 
Jones. Several children survived him. His portrait is given in 3 
Houck's History of Missouri, p. 5. 



104 [i82i] 

Continuing our course up the river, we passed 
through a more rocky and uneven country than that 
below Little Rock. The Maumel mountain,^* some 
fifty or sixty miles above this town, and a mile from 
the south bank of the river, is a great curiosity. It 
rises six hundred feet above the level of the river, 
and in shape resembles a coal pit. A large spring 
of fresh water gushes from the top and runs down its 
side to the river. We now passed through the coun- 
try of the Cherokees,^^ whose farms and log houses 
made a fine appearance on the banks of the river, 
and would compare favorably with those of any 
western State. They were at this time highly civ- 
ilized and have since made great advances in the arts. 
These were that part of the nation called the Rogers 
party, who just emigrated from the east to the west 
side of the Mississippi, and ultimately, about the 
year 1833, with the powerful agency of the General 
Government, caused the removal of the whole na- 
tion to this country, where they are making rapid 

18 The Mamelle or Maumelle Mountain is in Pulaski County, 
Arkansas, at the junction of Maumelle Creek with the Arkansas 
River. Nuttall describes it as a lofty, conic and broken hill, prob- 
ably more than one thousand feet in height, presenting the appear- 
ance of a vast pyramid hiding its summit in the clouds. 

19 The Cherokees first came into Arkansas as early as 1785. Dis- 
satisfied with the treaty of Hopewell, S. C, a few of this nation en- 
tered the Spanish country and formed a settlement on the St. Fran- 
cois River. This was shortly afterwards abandoned and a new 
settlement made on White River. Jefferson encouraged other Cher- 
okees to follow their kinsmen to the West, until, in 1817, they num- 
bered nearly three thousand. In 1817 a treaty was made by which 
a large tract of the Cherokees' land east of the Mississippi was ceded 
to the United States in exchange for a tract in Arkansas, and a large 
immigration took place. For some account of the life of the Cher- 
okees in Arkansas in early times, see Abney's Life and Adventures 
of L. D. Lafferty. 



[l82l] 



105 



progress In national prosperity. Their Delegate will 
take his seat in our next Congress as Representative 
of the first Indian Territory ever organized. If this 
nation shall form a nucleus for the preservation of 
the race from annihilation, the cheerless predictions 
of the Physiologists will be most fortunately falsi- 
fied, and the Philanthropist will rejoice in the per- 
petuation of the true Indian race and character. 

Fort Smith'° lies about six hundred miles from 
the mouth of the Arkansas and on the western con- 
fines of the Cherokee country, and near that of the 
Osages, which tribes were now at war with each 
other. We stopped a few days at this post, where 
we were well received by Lieutenant Scott"' and 
the commandant, Major Bradford," who examined 

20 Fort Smith, at the junction of the Poteau with the Arkansas 
river, about one hundred and thirty miles west-northwest from Lit- 
tle Rock, was built in 1817. The site, then called Belle Pointe, was 
chosen by Major Stephen H. Long, and the fort erected under the 
direction of Major William Bradford. A town was laid out in 
1838, on land adjoining the United States reservation, which has 
grown into a beautfiul and prosperous city of about thirty thousand 
inhabitants. 

21 Martin Scott of Vermont entered upon his military career as 
second-lieutenant of the 4th U. S. Infantry 21 April, 1814. Promo- 
tion came to him slowly, and he did not become a captain until 
1828. In the Mexican War, however, he received three promotions 
in one year for gallant conduct, and became lieutenant-colonel 23 
beptember 1846. He was killed in action at Molino del Rey, 8 Sep- 
tember, 1847. Colonel Marcy devotes the whole of an interestine 

&'" i" ^? ^°°''' P^'^yJ'^''^ of Army Life on the Border. tZ 
bcotts adventures and peculiarities. 



^^V5c:> 



/i^.c£^ 



- William Bradford was born in Virginia. He removed to Ken- 
tucky and was appointed, 12 March, 1812, captain in the 17th U. S. 
intantry. He saw much service and was promoted to the rank of 




io6 [1821] 

and approved our license. The Major was a small, 
stern-looking man, an excellent disciplinarian and a 
gallant officer. He invited McKnight and me to 
make his house our home until we had rested our 
company and put our guns in good order prepara- 
tory to entering the Indian country. He and his wife 
treated us with the utmost kindness and hospitality, 
and on leaving, presented us a large supply of gar- 
den vegetables, with a barrel of onions, which we 
were not to broach until we had killed our first buf- 
falo, when we were enjoined to have "a general 
feast in honor of old Billy Bradford." His kindness 
made a deep impression on us. We here tried to 
mark out our course for the future, which we de- 
termined should be the Arkansas to within sixty 
miles from Taos in New Mexico, Baum having told 
me that this river was navigable thus far, and the 
Canadian being too shallow for our boat. Parting 
from the hospitable old Major, we ascended the 
river to the Salt Fork,-^ which enters from the south, 

major, jo November, 1818. He was a candidate for Congress in 
1823, but was defeated by Henry W. Conway, by a majority of 
three hundred votes. He resigned from the army 1 May, 1824, and 
died 20 October, 1826. Travellers who visited Fort Smith while he 
was in command there all commend his generous hospitality. 

23 There is much confusion in the old maps as to the names of the 
rivers in this part of the country. Long's map, which was drawn 
about 1820, calls the river here referred to as the Salt Fork, the A'^^- 
suketonga or Grand Saline. Tixier gives it Niskureh-tonga, from 
the Osage words nhi, water, skureh, salt, and tonga, big. Gregg, on 
a map published 1844, calls it the Red Fork, of the Arkansas. What 
is now called the Salt Fork (or Negraka), Gregg calls in its lower 
reaches the Salt Fork, and in its upper, the Cimarron. For a de- 
tailed account of the vagaries of map makers regarding these rivers, 
see 2 Pike's Expeditions (Coues' Ed.), p. 552, note 10. The details 
hereinafter given by James demonstrate that what he here calls the 
Salt Fork is what is now the Cimarron. This river rises among the 



[i82i] 107 

passing In our way the Grand River,-* then called 
the Six Bulls, and the Verdigris,-^ at whose mouth 
Fort Gibson-*' has since been built. The waters of 
the Salt Fork are very much saturated with salt, 
tasting like strong brine where they enter the Arkan- 
sas. After this we proceeded with great difficulty, 
and about thirty miles above the South [Salt?] 
Fork our further progress was entirely stopped by 
the lowness of the water. There being no prospect 
of a speedy rise in the river at this time, which was 
the month of August, we returned four miles to an 
Osage road, which we had observed in going up, 

Raton Mountains near the boundary line between Colorado and New 
Mexico ; its general course is southeastwardly entering Kansas near 
its southwest corner, then passing into what used to be called "No- 
mans-land," then back into Kansas, then through the present Okla- 
homa to its confluence with the Arkansas River at about 36° 10' north 
latitude. Its length is estimated at six hundred and fifty miles. 

2* Neosho River rises in Morris County, Kansas, a few miles from 
Council Grove (famous in the annals of the Santa Fe Trail). Its 
course is generally south-eastward, and it unites with the Arkansas 
River near Fort Gibson; the Arkansas, the Neosho and the Verdi- 
gris forming what James calls the Three Forks. The name, Neosho, 
is from the Osage nlii, water, and ska, white. The French called it 
Grande, or big; and for a time it also bore the name Six Bulls, the 
outcome, no doubt, of a buffalo hunt. 

25 The Verdigris River heads in Chase County, Kansas, about 
eighteen miles southwest of Emporia, and flows generally southward, 
entering the Arkansas River about one mile above the mouth of the 
Neosho, and three miles from Fort Gibson. It is about two hun- 
dred and eighty miles in length. 

26 Fort Gibson was established by Col. Mathew Arbuckle of the 
7th U. S. Infantry in April, 1824. It is situated on the Neosho 
River about two miles above its mouth. James Hildreth, who was 
in camp near the Fort in 1833, describes the situation and the life 
at the post in his Dragoon Campaigns to the Rocky Mountains. N. 
Y. 1836. JeflPerson Davis was at one time stationed here, and the 
house occupied by him and his wife (who was a daughter of Pres- 
ident Taylor) was for many years an object of great interest, but it 
was finally carried away, even the foundation stones, by relic hunt- 
ers. 



io8 [1821] 

and here I sent three men to the Osage village,^'^ 
which I knew could not be far distant, for the pur- 
pose of opening a trade with this tribe. In five or 
six days these men returned to me with forty Osages 
and a Capt. Prior, formerly of the United States 
Army. I mentioned him in the first chapter as the 
commander of the escort of the Mandan Chief, She- 
haka. He was a Sergeant in Lewis & Clark's expe- 
dition, and a Captain at the Battle of New Orleans. 
On the reduction of the army after the war, 
he was discharged to make way for some parlor 
soldier and sunshine patriot, and turned out in his 
old age upon the "world's wide common." I found 
him here among the Osages, with whom he had 
taken refuge from his country's ingratitude, and was 
living as one of their tribe, where he may yet be, 
unless death has discharged the debt his country 
owed him. 

I took out some goods, and with McKnight, my 
brother and the Spaniard Maesaw, accompanied 
Capt. Prior and the Indians to their village, to the 
southeast, which we reached in two days. Here we 
found our old friend, Maj. Bradford, Hugh Glenn^^ 

27 The Osage village was on the west side of the Verdigris River 
about sixty miles from its mouth, in what is now Mayes County, 
Oklahoma, and was said to contain (in 1819) seven or eight hun- 
dred men and their families. (Nuttall.) 

28 Hugh Glenn. Nuttall was at Cincinnati in November, 1818, 
and says: "Here I had the good fortune through Dr. Drake, to be 
introduced to Mr. H. Glenn, lately sutler to the garrison of Arkan- 
sas." Long's party, who met Glenn at Cincinnati in May 1819, 
speak of being indebted to him for many friendly attentions. In 
September 1820 Captain Bell and others of Long's Company visited 
Glenn's trading house near the Verdigris River about a mile above 
its confluence with the Arkansas, and a few days later they met 



[i82i] 109 

from Cincinnati, with goods and about twenty men, 
on his way to the Spanish country, and also Capt. 
Barbour,'" an Indian trader from the mouth of the 

Glenn at Fort Smith. The story of Glenn's expedition to Santa F6 
is told in The Journal of Jacob Fo<wler, edited by Dr Elliott Coues. 
The St. Louis records show the marriage of Hugh Glenn to i-liza- 
beth McDonald on 26 January 1813, and a number of transfers of 
land made by him both before and after his marriage. On 19 l^eb- 
ruary 1835 letters of administration upon his estate were granted in 
Callaway County, Missouri; and the last entry in the St. Louis rec- 
ords is of a conveyance of land by his administrator to Jacob Fow- 
ler At the time of Glenn's death he owned thousands of acres of 
land in Missouri, in Lincoln, Warren, Montgomery, Gasconade, 
Osage, Cole, Moniteau, Saline, Boone, Callaway, and St. Louis 
Counties. No list of his heirs has been found. There is good rea- 
son for believing that James' charges against him are inspired by 
personal dislike and are not to be accepted as veracious. 

Since the foregoing was written, the Ohio Historical and Philo- 
sophical Society has reprinted Gorham A. Worth's Recollections of 
Cincinnati, from a Residence of Five Years, 1817 to 1821, 
in which Mr. Glenn is characterized as follows: Mr. Glenn, 
possessed in an eminent degree, the qualities that in those days 
characterized a great majority of the landholders and gentle- 
men traders of the west, qualities that might be stereotyped, as 
applicable to nearly all, and as forming a part of the character of 
each. These qualities, if I may venture to name them, were, a con- 
fidence in the increasing value of their lands, growing out of the 
tide of emigration which was then setting strongly in ; a self-appre- 
ciation, arising from the consciousness of the fact that they had 
made themselves what they were; a frankness and an unceremoni- 
ous cordiality of manner, the natural offspring of ease and indepen- 
dence; a hospitality, unequalled in any other part of the Union; 
springing in the first place from the necessity, and continued from 
a sense of its liberality and dignity, until it became in time the law 
of the land; a spirit of enterprize, or disposition to go ahead and 
make a fortune; a readiness to embark in large and hazardous op- 
erations, with borrowed means, or even with no means at all. To 
these may be added a disregard for trifles, — by which they meant 
anything short of positive ruin ; and a sovereign contempt for pru- 
dence and small change! By the latter was understood any sum 
less than five thousand dollars! It is hardly necessary to add to 
these, the then invariable characteristic of a western gentleman, a 
high sense of honor, which was in many cases, better than his bond. 
Mr. Glenn was a gentleman both in his appearance and manner." 
29 "On the fourth of January 1820, after waiting about a month 
for an opportunity of descending, I now embraced the favorable ad- 
vantage of proceeding in the boat of Mr. Barber, a merchant of 



no [1821] 

Verdigris, and formerly of Pittsburgh. I proposed 
to Glenn, whom I shall have to mention unfavorably 
hereafter, to travel in company to the Spanish coun- 
try; but he appearing averse to the arrangement, I 
did not urge it upon him. I bought twenty-three 
horses of the Osages at high prices, for packing my 
goods, and agreed with Barbour to cache (hide in 
the earth) my heaviest and least portable goods 
near the Arkansas, for him to take in the following 
spring down to his store at the mouth of the Verdi- 
gris, sell them and account to me for the proceeds 
on my return. I returned with my companions to 
the river and carefully concealed my flour, whiskey, 
lead, hardware and other heavy goods. I showed 
Capt. Prior, who came up the next day with a party 
of Osages going out on their fall hunt, the place 
where I had hid these goods, and packing the rest 
on my horses, we left the Arkansas to our right, or 
the north, and travelled with Prior and the Indians 
for two days toward the southwest. We then left 
them and bore directly to the west in the direction 
as pointed out to us by the Indians, of the Salt Plains 
and Shining Mountains. "° In eleven days we struck 

New Orleans, to whose friendship and civility I am indebted for 
many favors." Nuttall. 

30 After leaving the Arkansas River, James started on his over- 
land journey from some place in the present Pawnee County, Okla- 
homa, north of the Cimarron River, and first struck that river in 
sight of the "Shining Mountains." He says that he followed the 
riglit bank for two days and then crossed the river and followed a 
branch which led towards the north. This is irreconcilable unless 
he crossed the river to the south side without mentioning having done 
so. The "Shining Mountains" are in Major County, south of the 
Cimarron, not far from where the Rock Island rail road now crosses 
that river. George C. Sibley visited the "mountains" in 18 11, and 



[l82l] III 

the Salt Fork, mentioned before, and which is set 
down on the latest maps as the Cimarron River. In 
the distance before us we discerned the bright moun- 
tains before mentioned, which the Indians had di- 
rected us to pass in our route. 

We held on our course for two days along the 
right bank of the Salt Fork, over mounds and be- 
tween hills of sand which the wind had blown up 
in some places to the height of one hundred feet. 
Our progress was very slow, the horses sometimes 
sinking to their breasts in the sand. The bed of the 
river in many places was quite dry, the water being 
lost in the sand, and as we advanced, it appeared 
covered over with salt, like snow. The water, man- 
tled over with salt, stood in frequent pools, from 
the bottom of which we could scoop up that mineral 
In bushels. The channel of the Salt River became 
narrower and more shallow as we proceeded. The 
sand so obstructed our progress that we crossed the 
river where travelling was less difficult, and soon 
struck a branch of the Salt Fork,^^ equally impreg- 

describes them as follows: — "One might imagine himself surrounded 
by the ruins of some ancient city, and that the plains had sunk by 
some convulsion of nature, more than loo feet below its former level; 
for some of the huge columns of red clay rise to the height of two 
hundred feet perpendicular, capped with rocks of gypsum, which the 
hand of time is ever crumbling ofiF, and strewing in beautiful trans- 
parent flakes along the declivities of the hill, glittering like so many 
mirrors in the sun." H. M. Brackenridge, Fieivs of Louisiana To- 
gether with a Journal of a Voyage up the Missouri River in 1811, p. 
294. 

31 The branch here referred to seems to have been what is now 
Eagle Chief Creek. The course is untraceable unless what James 
here calls the "Salt Branch," is what he also designates as the Salt 
Fork, or the Cimarron. If this is so, then the meeting with the In- 
dians was in what is now Major County, some twenty five miles 



112 [l82l] 

nated with salt as the main stream. Large crusts of 
salt lay at the water's edge. Proceeding on, we came 
to the Shining Mountains, and a high hill evidently 
based upon salt. It stands near the salt branch, the 
banks of which were composed of salt rocks, from 
which the men broke off large pieces with their tom- 
ahawks. Here, and in the Salt River was enough 
of this valuable mineral to supply the world for an 
indefinite period. The Shining Mountains lay south 
of us about four miles and had been visible for sev- 
eral days. We visited them and found one of the 
greatest curiosities in our country. I have never seen 
them nor the salt plains in which they stand put down 
on any map or described by any white man. All of 
our travellers in this region appear to have passed 
to the north or south of them, as I have never seen 
or heard of a description of them, except by the In- 
dians, who come here regularly and in great force, 
for salt. The mountains stand separate from each 
other, are about three hundred feet in height, and 
are quite flat on the summit. They are composed, in 
part, of a shining, semi-transparent rock, which re- 
flects the rays of the sun to a great distance. It is 
soft, being easily cut with a knife, and the hand is 
visible through thin pieces of it when held in the sun- 
light. They extend about thirty miles on the left 
of Salt River in a northwest and southeast direction, 
are all of an equal height, containing an area on the 

west of the "mountains." If by Salt Branch he means Eagle Chief 
Creek, then the meeting was some where in Woods County, north of 
the Cimarron. 



[i82i] 113 

top of from ten rods to a hundred acres, and are 
entirely destitute of timber. The tops of most of 
them were inaccessible. With great difficulty we as- 
cended one of about ten acres in extent, from which 
we saw along the tops of the others, they all being 
on the same plane. We found the short, thin grass 
of the prairie below, but no shrub except the prickly 
pear. The ground was covered with immense quan- 
tities of buffalo manure, when left there, it would be 
vain to conjecture. The substance from the ground 
was clay for upwards of two hundred feet, then came 
the rock from ten to twenty feet thick, projecting 
over the earth, and the soil above was about ten 
feet in depth. The rock is fast crumbling away by 
the action of water, which seems to dissolve it, as 
we found very few fragments at the foot of the 
mountains and none of any considerable size. The 
whole country was evidently at one time on a level 
with these singular elevations. 

We continued our course up the bank of the same 
branch of Salt River by which we had come. Its 
water was now, after leaving the salt plains, fresh 
and wholesome, and we travelled along its bank two 
days, when finding it took us too much to the north, 
we left it and bore to the southwest. This was the 
sixth day after reaching the Salt Fork, and seventeen 
after parting with Capt. Prior and the Osages. We 
killed seven buffalo after leaving the Shining Moun- 
tains, and dried the meat. The carcasses of the 
buffaloes attracting the buzzards, with some old 
shoes and other small articles left on the ground 



114 [i82i] 

by the men, served to discover us to a war party of 
Camanches,"- who were now on our trail. After 
leaving the Salt Branch, we travelled till near night 
without finding wood or water, and then bore again 
to the northwest till we struck the branch. We 
cooked our meat with fuel of buffalo manure, which 
we gathered for the purpose. Towards the morning 
we were all alarmed by the barking of our dogs, 
followed by a clapping noise and the sound of foot- 
steps. We slept no more on that night, and in the 
morning saw upwards of a hundred Indians at a 
short distance coming with the design of intercepting 
our horses, which were some distance from camp. 
One horse was pierced by a lance. I exhibited the 

32 "About 1700 the Comanche, an off-shoot of the Shoshoni of Wy- 
oming, reached New Mexico and the Panhandle country. Next 
they attacked the Apache and crowded them southward, destroying 
the extensive Apache settlements of southwestern Kansas, and occu- 
pying the northern Apache lands themselves." "The Comanche are 
scattered from the great Missuris River to the neighborhood of the 
frontier presidios of New Spain. They are a people so numerous 
and so haughty that when asked their number, they make no difficulty 
of comparing it to that of the stars. They are so skillful in horse- 
manship that they have no equal ; so daring that they never ask 
for or grant truces; and in the possession of such territory that, find- 
ing in it an abundance of pasturage for their horses and an incred- 
ible number of cattle which furnish them raiment, food, and shelter, 
they only just fall short of possessing all of the conveniences of the 
earth, and have no need to covet the trade pursued by the rest of 
the Indians whom they call, on this account, slaves of the Europeans, 
and whom they despise." (Atlianase de Mezieres and the Louisiana- 
Texas Frontier 1768-1780. Edited by Herbert Eugene Bolton. Vol. 
I, pp. 24, 25, 218, 219.) 

In 1835 they made their first treaty with the United States, and in 
1868 agreed to go on a reservation, but it was not until about 1875 
that they finally settled upon it. 

They were probably never a large tribe, although supposed to be 
populous on account of their wide range. Within the last 50 years 
they have been terribly wasted by war and disease. They numbered 
1400 in 1904, attached to the Kiowa agency, Oklahoma. 



[i82i] 115 

flag, which diverted their course, and they came 
among us in a very hostile manner, seizing whatever 
they could lay their hands on. The interpreter told 
us they were a war party and advised me to make 
peace with them by giving them presents. I did so, 
distributing about three thousand dollars' worth of 
goods among them. There were two chiefs in this 
party, one of whom was friendly and the other, 
called the one-eyed chief, seemed determined to take 
our lives. His party, however, was in a minority 
and soon after went off. The friendly chief then 
came up to me and on account of his interference 
in our behalf demanded more presents, which I made 
to him. He told me that if I came to the village 
I should be well treated and implored me not to go 
up the Arkansas. I afterwards learned that the one- 
eyed chief had left me with the purpose of waylay- 
ing us on that river and taking our lives, which was 
the reason of the friendly chief's advice. Those 
who were hostile, and they were the whole of the 
one-eyed chief's party, seemed perfectly infuriated 
against us. They scrutinized our equipments, said 
we had Osage horses and were spies of that nation, 
with whom they were then at war. At last we were 
rid of the presence of these unpleasant visitors, with 
many dismal apprehensions for the future. The 
friendly chief left a Mexican Indian, an interpreter, 
with us as a guide. With him we struck from the 
south branch'^ of Salt River, for the north Fork of 

33 There is no stream in this neighborhood of sufficient importance 
to be called the south branch. Ewers' Creek is probably what is 
meant. By Salt river, James here, undoubtedly, means the Cimarron. 



ii6 [1821] 

the Canadian,^* which the Indians told us we should 
reach in one day's travel. Going in a direction west 
of south, we struck the river on the second day, 
having suffered dreadfully for want of water. 

McKnight and I went forward to find water and 
killed a buffalo. We drank large draughts of the 
blood of this animal, which I recollect tasted like 
milk. We found several ponds of water, so tainted 
with buffalo manure as to cause us to vomit on drink- 
ing of it. We missed the party on that night and 
found them on the next day, all sick from the water 
they had drunk, and exhausted by previous fatigue 
and thirst. The horses were nearly worn out by the 
same causes. 

We travelled along the North Fork of the Cana- 
dian for seven or eight days, until we reached its 
head^^ in a large morass, or swamp, about two miles 
wide, and five or six long, situate in a valley which 
gradually narrows and disappears at last in the vast 
plain to the west. We went up this valley, which 

34 The Canadian River (South Fork) rises in the northeastern 
part of New Mexico and runs eastwardly through the panhandle of 
Texas (the former Llano Estacado) and through Oklahoma, enter- 
ing the Arkansas River about forty five miles above Fort Smith. 
Its length is about nine hundred miles. The North Fork of the Ca- 
nadian heads in the same district as the South Fork and takes a 
more northerly and extremely tortuous course between the Cimarron 
and the South Fork and unites with the latter, in Mcintosh County, 
Oklahoma, about fifty miles above its mouth. The North Fork is a 
much smaller stream than the South, but, owing to its bends, it is 
longer. The name comes from the peninsular Spanish word ca^Iada, 
meaning a valley between mountains; a word which has been sup- 
planted in this countrv by cailon. 

5^ The head of the North Fork is many miles beyond the point here 
reached by James. He was probably deceived by finding the bed 
beyond the morass without water at this time. The upper part of 
the stream is laid down on some maps as Beaver Creek. 



[l82l] Iiy 

was now dry, but in the spring is filled with a rapid 
stream. We saw thousands of buffalo along its 
course, and found a large pond about an acre in 
extent, but the water was so spoiled by manure as 
to sicken us all. After passing through this valley 
we bore for the Canadian River towards the south, 
and on the second day, after intense suffering from 
thirst, we struck a fine spring of fresh water. This 
was a rich source of real refreshment and enjoy- 
ment. Following the stream made by this spring, 
we reached the Canadian,^and travelled up its course 
for several days. We had encamped for the night 
on the twenty-first day after meeting the Camanches 
who had robbed us on the branch of Salt River, 
when we saw a great number of mounted Indians 
coming over a rising ground in our front,'® and at 
their head the friendly chief, who advanced with 
outstretched hand crying towaue, towaiie — "good, 
good." Coming up, he embraced me in Indian 
custom, and requested me to go with him to his 
village. Here an Indian seized a brass kettle and 
rode off with it. This act alarmed me, and I asked 
the chief if he could protect my property if I went 
with him. He said he could not, and I declined his 
invitation for that night, and requested him to leave 
a body of trusty Indians, to defend me till morning. 
He did so, and we were not molested that night. 

In the morning we marched with our guard from 
the left bank of the river, where we had encamped, 

36 The place of their second meeting with the Indians was in the 
Texas panhandle near the New Mexican border. 



ii8 [1821] 

to the right bank, and in two miles above we found 
the whole village of the Indians, numbering a thou- 
sand lodges, situated in the bottom near the base of 
a large mound. We were met by one of the prin- 
cipal chiefs, whose looks were to me ominous of evil. 
He was a little, vicious-looking old man and eyed me 
most maliciously. We were taken close to the foot 
of the mound near this chief's lodge, and there we 
encamped, having piled up my goods and covered 
them with skins. The Indians then demanded pres- 
ents and about a thousand chiefs and warriors sur- 
rounded us. I laid out for them tobacco, powder, 
lead, Vermillion, cahco and other articles, amounting 
to about $1,000 in value. This did not satisfy them, 
and they began to break open my bales of cloth and 
divide my finest woolens designed for the Spanish 
market, among them. After losing about $1,000 
more in this way, I induced them to desist from fur- 
ther robbery. The principal chief, named Big Star, 
now appeared and said they had enough. They di- 
vided the spoil among two or three thousand, of 
whom all got some. They tore up the cloth into 
garments for the middle and blankets. They tied 
the silk handkerchiefs to their hair as ornaments, 
which streamed in the wind. 

This robbery over, I smoked with them and pre- 
pared to go on my journey. This they forbade and 
we were compelled to stay over that day. We kept 
a strong guard through the night on our goods and 
horses. On the next morning they pretended that 
another party had arrived who required presents. 



[i82i] 119 

This information was brought by a one-eyed Span- 
iard, who acted as interpreter and had got from me 
as a present a whole suit of cloth and a large supply 
of ammunition. He was the instigator of this new 
demand. The Indians began to gather around us, 
and break open and drag about the goods. The 
chiefs stood off, taking no part. I then made them 
another set of presents, worth, probably, a thousand 
dollars more. We now hoped to be allowed to pass 
on, and requested leave to go, but they refused it; 
and the friendly chief advised us to stay. I had seen 
many savages, but none so suspicious and little as 
these. They seemed to regard us as spies In their 
country. We stayed with them the second day and 
night without any further robbery than that I have 
mentioned. On the third day of my stay, the one- 
eyed chief came into the village from the Arkansas, 
where he had been with a hundred men, awaiting us 
with murderous designs. On his coming in, the in- 
terpreter, Maesaw, ran to me, saying we should cer- 
taily be killed, and the women and children ran from 
their lodges like chickens before a hawk. I had made 
the Big Star chief my friend my presenting him with 
a splendid sword. He now came up and took me 
into the little old chief's lodge, saying I would be 
shot if I remained out. Our time seemed nearly 
come. In the distance we saw the one-eyed with his 
troop approaching, all painted black and armed with 
guns, bows and arrows and lances. We were eleven 
against a hundred at least, perhaps thousands. The 
Big Star sent a messenger to my enemy and asked 



I20 



[l82l] 



him what would satisfy him in lieu of our lives. He 
replied that he must have for each of his men as 
much cloth as his outstretched arms would once 
measure; an equal quantity of calico; powder, lead, 
Vermillion, knives, beads, looking glasses, etc., and 
for himself the sword which he had seen on the south 
branch of Salt River. I sent him word that I had 
not the Vermillion, knives, beads and looking glasses, 
nor the sword, which I had presented to the Big 
Star. He said the story about the sword was a lie, 
that I had given it to Big Star to prevent him from 
getting it, and that he would have it or my scalp, 
and as to the other articles, he would take cloth In- 
stead of them. The Big Star here sent to his lodge 
for the sword, and taking It in his hand, he pressed 
its side to his heart and then handed it to me, saying, 
"Take It and send It to the one-eyed chief. You 
have no other way of saving your life and the lives 
of your people." I did as he advised, and measured 
off about five hundred yards of cloth and calico, of 
which the former cost me seven dollars per yard in 
Baltimore, and sent them to my deadly enemy. 

This appeared to pacify him and again I proposed 
to go on my way. To this they again objected, saying 
that the whole village would go down the river In the 
morning, and we should then be permitted to part 
from them and continue our course up the river as 
before meeting with them. We had the horses 
brought up and prepared, that evening, for an early 
start In the morning. One-half kept guard while the 
rest of our party endeavored to sleep. But there 



[l82l] 



121 



was no rest for any of us on that most dismal night. 
This was the third sleepless night which we had 
passed with these ferocious savages, and we were 
nearly worn down by fatigue, anxiety and watching. 
Before daylight a party of boys ascended the mound 
in our rear, and from the top stoned our company 
until they were dislodged and driven down by the 
exertions of the friendly chief. Uncertain of our 
fate and nearly exhausted, we awaited in sullen pa- 
tience, the issue of events. The sun as he rose 
seemed to wear an aspect of gloom, and everything 
portended evil to our little band. Six of my horses 
had been taken in the night, and I ordered my men 
out to find and bring them back. The friendly chief 
now came to me with great concern and dejection 
in his countenance, and begged of me not to leave 
my station or allow the men to go out. 

"Keep together," said he, "or you will be killed. 
The men that go out will be murdered. Don't try 
to get back to your horses." I saw that the whole 
army were preparing to decamp, and puUing down 
their lodges. Some time after sunrise, I perceived 
about fifty of the chiefs and older Indians going up 
unto the mound above us, in our rear, followed by 
a multitude of young warriors and boys. An old 
man turned and drove them back; the two friendly 
chiefs did not go up. Arrived at the top, this com- 
pany formed the circle, sat down and smoked. Then 
one of their number commenced what seemed to us, 
from his gestures, to be a violent harangue, de- 
signed to inflame their passions. I told my company 



122 [l82l] 

that this council would decide our fate. They asked 
me how I knew this. If they come down, said I, 
friendly, we shall have nothing to fear ; but if sulky, 
and out of humor, we have nothing to hope. Put 
your guns In good order, and be prepared for the 
worst. We must sell our lives as dearly as possible. 
In this sentiment they all agreed with me, and we 
prepared to meet our fate, whatever it should be, 
like men. During this time, the lodges, with the 
women and children, were fast disappearing, and 
the men assembling before us on horseback and 
afoot, armed with guns, bows and lances. The coun- 
cil on the hill, after an hour's consultation, descended, 
and we soon learned that our deaths were deter- 
mined upon. Those Indians who before were so- 
ciable were now distant and sulky. When spoken to 
by any of us they made no answer. 

The friendly chief and Big Star, who had taken 
no part in the council, now came and shook hands, 
and bade us farewell. I besought them to stay with 
us; shaking their heads sorrowfully, they went away. 
The press in front now greatly increased. Nearly 
two thousand warriors stood before and around 
us, with the evident intention of making an attack, 
and appeared to be waiting the signal for the on- 
slaught. We stood in a circle with our back to the 
goods and saddles heaped up above all our heads; 
and with out rifles raised to our breasts and our fin- 
gers on the triggers. We were also armed with 
knives and tomahawks. Old Jemmy Wilson seized 
an axe, having no gun, and swore he would hew his 



[i82i] 123 

way as far as he could. Thus we stood, eleven 
against two thousand, with death staring us in the 
face. All seemed unwilling to commence the bloody 
work. The suspense was awful. I stood between 
John McKnight and my brother, and noticed their 
countenances. McKnight's face was white, and his 
chin and lips were quivering. My brother, as brave 
a man as ever lived, looked desperate and deter- 
mined. Not a man but seemed bent to die in arms 
and fighting, and none were overcome by fear. 

Thus we stood near half an hour in deadly si- 
lence; at length the White Bear warrior, a chief 
dressed in a whole bear skin, with the claws hanging 
over his hands, rode swiftly toward us, through the 
crowd, with his lance in his hand, as if to annihilate 
us at once; but seeing the dangerous position he was 
In, he stopped short about five paces from us, and 
glared upon me with the most deadly malignity. Find- 
ing he could not reach me with his lance, he took out 
his pistol, examined the priming, tossed out the 
powder from the pan, reprimed, and again fixed his 
devilish eyes full upon me. But he saw that I could 
fire first and he kept his pistol down. Here McKnight 
first broke the dreadful silence, saying, "Let us com- 
mence, James, you will be the first one killed — this 
suspense is worse than death; the black chief is my 
mark." I said no, McKnight, let us forbear as long 
as they do; for us to begin is folly In the extreme; 
but as soon as a gun is fired we must fire, rush In and 
sell our lives as dearly as possible. Here KIrker 
walked out with his gun over his head, gave It up, 



124 [i82i] 

and passed into the crown unmolested. In a minute 
afterwards we heard a cry from a distance, approach- 
ing nearer and nearer, of Tabbaho, Tabbaho*^'' This 
I supposed was on account of Kirker's surrender. 
The cry increased and spread throughout the crowd. 
Looking towards the southwest, whence the cry 
arose, while the White Bear's attention was with- 
drawn, I saw six horsemen riding at full speed, and 
as they came nearer, we heard the words in Spanish, 
save them ! save them ! In a moment a Spanish of- 
ficer rushed into our arms, exclaiming, "Thank God 
we are in time; you are all safe and unhurt." He 
said that he had heard of our danger by accident, 
that morning, and ridden twenty miles to save us. 
All the circumstances of our rescue we learned the 
next day. With joyous and thankful hearts for our 
escape from a death that five minutes before seemed 
inevitable, we prepared to depart with our pre- 
servers. I had bidden farewell, as I thought, for- 
ever, to my wife, child, home and all its endearments, 
and the thoughts of them were now overpowering 
to me. The Spaniards asked the Indians why they 
were going to kill us. They answered that the Span- 
ish governor at Santa Fe had commanded them not 

* White men. 

37 In Lewis and Clark it is said that Tabba-bone in the Shoshonce 
language means white man. In Long's Expedition the word Tabba- 
boos or Tabby-boos is said to have been the designation of Anglo- 
Americans as distinguished from French or Spanish. In the Sho- 
shone vocabulary in 4 Long's Expedition, the word Tab-ba-bo is 
defined as white people, people of the sun. This last definition, 
"people of the sun," is probably a fanciful idea of the Whites. The 
Indian conceded no superiority to the Whites in those days. The 
Crows and Cheyennes, neighbors of the Shoshonees, called the 
Whites "yellow eyes." 



[i82i] 125 

to let any Americans pass, but that we were deter- 
mined to go in spite of them, so that to stop us and 
keep their promise to the Spanish governor, they 
thought they were compelled to take our lives. The 
Spaniards told them that this was under the govern- 
ment of Spain, but that they were now independent 
and free, and brothers to the Americans. This was 
the first news I had heard of the Mexican revolution. 
The two friendly chiefs now returned, and I 
showed the Spaniards our passport. The Indians 
brought in and delivered up four of my horses. The 
whole village, soon after the arrival of the Span- 
iards, went down the river; and our party, except 
Maesaw and myself, with two of the Spanish offi- 
cers, started forward towards the Spanish camp, 
about twenty miles distant. We four remained be- 
hind to recover the two missing horses, and then fol- 
lowed our companions. We were lost, at dark, 
among the cliffs bordering the river, where we made 
fire for cooking our suppers, and encamped for the 
night. Early the next morning we reached the Span- 
ish encampment, where our party was awaiting us. 
As we approached the camp, there came out to meet 
us, a tall Indian of about seventy years of age, 
dressed in the complete regimentals of an American 
Colonel, with blue coat, red sash, white pantaloons, 
epaulets and sword. He advanced with an erect 
military air and saluted us with great dignity and 
address. His eyes were still bright and piercing, 
undimmed in the least by age, and he had a high, 
noble forehead and Roman nose. His whole port 



126 [l82l] 

and air struck me forcibly as those of a real com- 
mander and a hero. After saluting us he handed 
me a paper which I read as follows, as nearly as 
I now remember: 

"This is to certify that Cordaro, a Chief of the 
"Camanches, has visited the Fort at Nacotoche with 
"fifteen of his tribe; that he remained here two 
"weeks, and during the whole time behaved very 
"well. It is my request that all Americans who meet 
"him or any of his tribe, should treat him and them 
"with great respect and kindness, as they are true 
"friends of the United States. 

"JOHN JAMESON,'^ 

"U. S. Indian Agent at Nacotoche on Red River." 

This chief, Cordaro, was the cause of our being 
then in existence. He told us he had promised his 
"great friend at Nacotoche" that he would protect 
all Americans that came through his country, and 
he very earnestly requested us to inform his "great 
friend" that he had been as good as his word. On 
entering the encampment, we found about fifty Span- 
iards and three hundred Camanche warriors, who 
had just returned from an expedition against the 
Navahoes, a tribe inhabiting the country west of 
Santa Fe and the mountains, and who were then at 
war with the Spaniards. On their return from this 
campaign this party had come from Santa Fe with 

38 A John Jamison of Virginia was appointed ensign in the sth 

LU. S. Infantry, i July, 1808. He was promoted from time to time 
until he became a major in 18 14. He was honorably discharged 15 
June, 1815. He died in October 1819. No mention of a John Jami- 
son in the Indian service has been found outside of the present work. 







^ 



; J. 



[i82i] 127 

their Camanche allies into their country to hunt for 
buffalo and had encamped the night before our res- 
cue from the Camanches, on the spot where we now 
found them. On the next morning a party of In- 
dians belonging to this band were hunting their 
horses in the prairie and met another party from the 
army below, who had us in custody, engaged in the 
same manner, who informed them that their coun- 
trymen had taken a company of American prisoners, 
and were going to kill them all that morning, and 
divide their goods among the army; that the whole 
village was breaking up and preparing to go down 
the Canadian, and that the pulling down of the last 
lodge was to be the signal for our massacre. On 
hearing this, the first party hastened back to their 
camp with the news which brought out most of the 
young warriors to come down for a share of the 
plunder of my goods. The chief, Cordaro, went 
instantly, on hearing this account, to the Spanish 
officers, told them that a company of Americans 
were to be murdered that morning by his country- 
men, mentioned the signal for the attack, said he 
was too old to ride fast, or he would go himself 
to the rescue, and adjured them to mount and ride 
without sparing the horses, as not a moment was to 
be lost. Six of them mounted and rode as Cordaro 
had told them to do, and we saw their foaming 
steeds and heard the cry of Tabbaho (white men) 
just in time to save us from extermination. A min- 
ute after would probably have been too late. Our 
determined attitude averted the blow and prolonged 



128 [l82l] 

our time to the last moment, when our deliverers 
appeared; but without them, the next instant would 
have seen a volley of shot and arrows lay most of 
us low and the lance and tomahawk would have soon 
completed the work on us all. 

Cordaro, the noble and true-hearted savage, ap- 
peared to rejoice at our escape as much as we. He 
desired particularly that his "great friend" at Naco- 
toche should hear of his agency in saving us, and I 
had to promise him repeatedly that I would surely 
inform Col. Jameson when I saw him, of the man- 
ner in which his friend, Cordaro, had performed his 
promise to him. If John Jameson be still alive and 
this page meet his eye, I shall have cause to felicitate 
myself in having at last kept my word to my Caman- 
che preserver. 

We spent that day with Cordaro and the Span- 
iards, and held a council or "talk" with them. Cor- 
daro made a speech dissuading me from going to 
Santa Fe on account of the treatment which the 
Americans had always received from the govern- 
ment there. "They will imprison you," said he to 
me, "as they have imprisoned all Americans that 
ever went to Santa Fe. You will meet the fate of 
all your countrymen before you." The Spanish 
officers, who were all present at this harangue, smiled 
and said there was no danger of any ill-treatment to 
us, now that they had an independent government. 
Cordaro shook his head incredulously and told them 
that we were under his protection; that he would 
himself go to Santa Fe after we had arrived there, 



[i82i] 129 

and if he found us imprisoned, he would immediately 
go to war with them. "The Americans are my 
friends," said he, "and I will not permit them to 
be hurt. I have promised my great friend of Naco- 
toche to protect all Americans that come through 
my country." The Spaniards promised to treat us 
well, but our protector seemed to be very suspicious 
of them and evidently gave little faith to their prom- 
ises. We found at this camp an excellent Spanish 
interpreter, who spoke the Camanche language as 
well as his own. By him I was informed that the 
Indians took me for the Frenchman, Vaugean, whom 
we had seen in the country of the Quawpaws, a tribe 
of kin to the Osages, and who, while hunting on the 
Canadian in the spring before with a party of thirty 
French and Indians of the former tribe, had been 
attacked by the Camanches, who were defeated and 
driven back with considerable loss. Vaugean, like 
myself, was a tall man, and the Indians here and 
those we had met before, considered me the com- 
mander in this battle. The one-eyed interpreter had 
concealed this fact from me, and we now had some 
difficulty in satisfying the Indians that we were not 
the same party who with Vaugean were in alliance 
with their enemies, the Osages. The charge was 
frequently renewed, but we at last succeeded in re- 
pelling it and quieting their suspicions. On the next 
day, the third day after meeting with the Spanish 
officers, we parted with Cordaro, who followed his 
countrymen down the Canadian, with the Spanish 
force in his company. Two of the Spanish officers 



I30 [i82i] 

remained to accompany us to Santa Fe. They were 
all very gentlemanly and liberal-minded men. One 
Spanish citizen of Santa Fe had hired to return with 
me as a guide. We once more took up our march 
along the Canadian and over the immense plains by 
the trail of the Spaniards we had just parted with. 
The whole country here is one immense prairie. I 
observed many huge granite rocks standing like 
stone buildings, some of them one hundred feet high. 
The earth seemed to have been washed from around 
them and the prairie below to have been formed by 
deposits of earth and crumbled rocks from these and 
similar elevations. Some were covered with earth 
and cedar trees, but most of them were entirely bare. 
In three days after leaving Cordaro we came in sight 
of the Rocky Mountains, whose three principal 
peaks, covered with perpetual snow, were glittering 
in the sun. The most northern and highest of these 
peaks is set down on the latest map I have seen as 
"James' Peak or Pike's."^** Gen. Pike endeavored 
to reach its top, but without success. After my re- 

39 Dr. Edwin James of Long's Expedition from Pittsburgh to the 
Rocky Mountains, was the first American to make the ascent of 
Pike's Peak, which he did on 13-14 July 1820. In honor of this 
achievement Major Long thought proper to call the peak by his 
name and on the early maps it appears as James' Peak. This name 
was not accepted, however, by the "mountain men," the traders and 
trappers who resorted to the country; they called it Pike's Peak after 
Gen. Z. M. Pike who visited it in November 1806. On the map in 
I Gregg's Commerce of the Prairies (1844) the name given is Pike's 
Peak (or James')." Captain Ruxton who camped where Manitou 
now is in 1846, speaks of the mountain first as James' or Pike's Peak, 
and later only by the latter name. Adventures in Mexico and the 
Rocky Mountains, London, 1849, pp. 215, 218, 259. It is likely that 
the peak which was seen by Thomas James was not Pike's Peak, but 
one further to the South. 



[i82i] 131 

turn I made a rough map with a pen, of this coun- 
try, for the use of Senator Kane of Illinois, and in 
the next map published by government, I saw my 
name affixed to this peak, as I supposed by the 
agency of Mr. Kane. The peak bore no name known 
to our company when we saw it and I gave it none 
then or afterwards. In two days more we came 
to an old Spanish fort, dismantled and deserted, 
which had been built many years before in expecta- 
tion of an invasion from the United States. This 
was about one hundred miles from Santa Fe. We 
soon encountered large herds of sheep, attended by 
shepherds, and on the second day after passing the 
fort, came to a small town*** in a narrow ravine on 
the Peccas River and at the foot of a high cliff. Here 
I became acquainted with an old Spaniard, named 
Ortiso, who in his youth had been captured by the 
Pawnees and sold to Chouteau of St. Louis, where 
he had learned French and whence he returned home 
by the way of New Orleans, St. Antoine in Texas 
and the interior of Mexico. He informed me more 
particularly than I had yet heard of the Mexican 
Revolution, and foretold that Iturbide would be 
elected president at the ensuing election. We pro- 
ceeded up the bank of the Peccas by a narrow road. 
Impassable for waggons. One of the horses with all 
my powder and some of the most valuable goods, 
here fell down a precipice into a beaver dam in the 
river. The horse was uninjured but the goods were 

^0 This is Cuesta. For a description of it, see i Mollhausen's 
Diary of a Journey from the Mississippi to the Coasts of the Pacific, 
P- 317- 



132 [l82l] 

nearly all spoiled. The next town on our route was 
San Miguel, fifteen miles from the last, an old Span- 
ish town of about a hundred houses, a large church 
and two miserably constructed flour mills. Here 
was the best water power for mills, and the country 
in the vicinity abounded in the finest pine timber I 
had ever seen. But no attempt is made to improve 
the immense advantages which nature offers. Every- 
thing that the inhabitants were connected with seemed 
going to decay. We left San Miguel*^ on the follow- 
ing morning with the Alcalde and a company of 
Spaniards bound for Santa Fe. We stopped at night 
at the ancient Indian village of Peccas*^ about fif- 
teen miles from San Miguel. I slept in the fort, 
which encloses two or three acres in an oblong, the 
sides of which are bounded by brick houses three 
stories high, and without any entrances in front. The 
window frames were five feet long and three-fourths 
of a foot in width, being made thus narrow to pre- 
vent all ingress through them. The lights were made 
of izing-glass and each story was supplied with sim- 

41 "San Miguel consists of irregular clustres of mud-wall huts, and 
is situated in the fertile valley of Rio Pecos, a silvery little river 
which ripples from the snowy mountains of Santa Fe — from which 
city this frontier village is nearly fifty miles to the south east. The 
road makes this great southern bend to find a pass-way through the 
mountains." San Miguel was the scene of the first imprisonment 
and shameful mistreatment of the men composing the Texas Santa 
Fe expedition in 1841. There is a picture of the village in Emory's 
Notes of a Military Reconnaissance &c. 

4- Pecos was an ancient Indian pueblo around which grew up a 
New Mexican village. It was in ruins when visited by Colonel 
Emory in 1846. It is about twenty five miles by road from Santa 
Fe. A picture of the place is given in Emery's Notes. And see 
Handbook of American Indians. Vol. 2, p. 220. 



[l82l] 133 

ilar windows. A balcony surmounted the first and 
second stories and movable ladders were used in 
ascending to them on the front. We entered the 
fort by a gate which led into a large square. On 
the roofs, which, like those of all the houses in Mex- 
ico, are flat, were large heaps of stones for annoying 
an enemy. I noticed that the timbers which extended 
out from the walls about six feet and supported the 
balconies, were all hewn with stone hatchets. The 
floors were of brick, laid on poles, bark and mortar. 
The brick was burned in the sun and made much 
larger than ours, being about two feet by one. The 
walls were covered with plaster made of lime and 
izing-glass. I was informed by the Spaniards and 
Indians that this town and fort are of unknown anti- 
quity, and stood there in considerable splendor in the 
time of the Conquerors. The climate being dry and 
equable and the wood in the buildings the best of pine 
and cedar, the towns here suffer but little by natural 
decay. The Indians have lost all tradition of the 
settlement of the town of Peccas. It stood a re- 
markable proof of the advance made by them in the 
arts of civilization before the Spaniards came among 
them. All the houses are well built and showed 
marks of comfort and refinement. The inhabitants, 
who were all Indians, treated us with great kind- 
ness and hospitality. In the evening I employed an 
Indian to take my horses to pasture, and in the 
morning when he brought them up I asked him what 
I should pay him. He asked for powder and I was 
about to give him some, when the Spanish officer 



134 [i82i] 

forbade me, saying it was against the law to supply 
the Indians with ammunition. Arms are kept out 
of their hands by their masters, who prohibit all 
trade in those articles with any of the tribes around 
them. On the next day in the evening, we came in 
sight of Santa Fe, which presented a fine appearance 
in the distance. It is beautifully situated on a plain 
of dry and rolling ground, at the foot of a high 
mountain and a small stream which rises in the moun- 
tains to the west runs directly through the city. It 
contained a population at this time of six thousand. 
The houses were all whitewashed outside and in, and 
presented a very neat and pleasing sight to the eye 
of the traveller.*^ They were all flat on the roof and 
most of them one story in height. There are five 
very splendid churches, all Roman Catholic, which 
are embellished with pictures, and ornaments of gold 
and silver in the most costly style. The chalices were 
of pure gold and candlesticks of silver. The prin- 
cipal buildings, including the fort, are buflt around 
the public square in the middle of the city. The fort, 
which occupies the whole side of this square, en- 
closes about ten acres, and is built on the plan of 
the Peccas Fort, above described. There is an outer 
wall about eight feet in height, enclosing the bulld- 

*3 "The first sight of Santa Fe is by no means prepossessing. 
Viewed from the adjacent hills as you descend into the valley, 
whence it falls for the first time under your glance, it has more 
the appearance of a colony of brick kilns than a collection of hu- 
man habitations. You see stretching before you, on both side of the 
little river of the same name, a cluster of flat roofed mud houses, 
which in the distance you can hardly distinguish from the earth 
itself." El Gringo, by W. W. H. Davis, N. Y. 1857, p. 234. 



[i82i] 135 

ings, which, like those at Peccas, bound the inner 
square. The whole was falling to decay and but few 
soldiers were stationed in it. The farms are with- 
out fences or walls, and the cattle, hogs, etc., have 
to be confined during the raising and harvesting of 
crops. They raise onions, peas, beans, corn, wheat 
and red pepper — the last a principal ingredient in 
Spanish food. Potatoes and turnips were unknown. 
I saw peach trees, but none of apples, cherries or 
pears. The gardens were enclosed. 

The country is entirely destitute of rains except 
in the month of June and July, when the rivers are 
raised to a great height. A continual drought pre- 
vails throughout all the rest of the year, not even 
relieved by dews. Consequently, the ground has to 
be irrigated by means of many streams which rise in 
the mountains and flow into the Rio Grande; and 
for this purpose canals are cut through every farm. 
Land that can be watered is of immense value, while 
that which is not near the streams is worthless. While 
in Santa Fe a Spaniard took me sixteen miles south, 
to show me his farm of 15 acres, for which he had 
just paid $100 per acre, and which lay conveniently 
to water. Hogs and poultry are scarce, while sheep, 
goats and cattle are very abundant. 



CHAPTER FOUR 

Interview With Governor Malgaris — Commencement of Business — 
Departure of McKnight — Arrival of Cordaro — His Speech — 
His Visit to Nacotoche — His Death and Character — Hugh Glenn 
— Celebration of Mexican Independence — Gambling and Dissi- 
pation — Mexican Indians — Domestic Manufactures — Visit of the 
Utahs — Their Horses — Speech of the Chief Lechat — War With 
the Navahoes — Cowardly Murder of Their Chiefs by the Span- 
iards — Militia of Santa Fe — Attempt to go to Sonora — Stopped 
by the Governor — Interview With the Adjutant — Selling Out — 
Hugh Glenn Again — How the Governor Paid Me a Debt — 
Spanish Justice — Departure for Home. 

I ENTERED Santa Fe on the first day of Decem- 
ber, A. D. 1 82 1, and immediately went with 
Ortise as interpreter, to the Governor's palacio or 
house, to whom I made known my object in visiting 
his country, and showed my passport. He remarked 
on reading it that they were entirely independent of 
Spain, that the new government had not laid any 
duties on imports and gave me permission to vend 
my goods. I rented a house, and on the next day 
commenced business. In about two weeks I took in 
$200, which I advanced to John McKnight for the 
expenses of his journey to Durango, about sixteen 
hundred miles south, where his brother Robert was 
living after his enlargement from prison. They both 
returned in the month of April following. Soon 
after McKnight's departure, I heard of Hugh 
Glenn's arrival at Taos, sixty miles north of Santa 
136 



[l822] 137 

Fe and was soon after favored with a visit from 
him/ He came down to Santa Fe, borrowed $60 
from me, and at the end of a week returned to Taos. 
About six weeks after I reached Santa Fe my true 
friend and protector, Cordaro, came in according 
to promise, with thirty of his tribe, to ascertain if 
we were at hberty. He was dressed in his full regi- 
mentals and commanded the respect of the Spanish 
officials, who behaved towards him with great def- 
erence. By his request a council was held, which 
convened in the Spanish Council House on the pub- 
lic square, and was attended by the Spanish officers, 
magistrates and principal citizens of Santa Fe. Cor- 
daro made the speech for which he had caused the 
council to be held. He expressed his pleasure at 
finding that we and the Spaniards were friends; 
that he would be pleased to see us always living to- 
gether like brothers and hoped that the American 
trade would come to his country as well as to the 
Spaniards. He complained that we traded with their 
enemies, the Osages, and furnished them with pow- 
der, lead and guns, but had no intercourse with the 
Camanches. He hoped the Government of the 
United States would interfere and stop the depre- 
dations of the Osages upon his nation. "They steal 
our horses and murder our people," said he, "and 
the Americans sell them the arms and ammunition 
which they use in war upon us. We want your trade, 

1 Fowler says that when he went Into San Fernandez de Taos on 
I May, he found that Colonel Glenn had gone to Sta. Fe, and on 7 
May he mentions his return. The Journal of Jacob Fowler (Coues' 
ed.), N. Y. 1878. 



138 [l822] 

and if you will come among us we will not cheat 
nor rob you. I have had a talk with my nation and 
told them they had done a great wrong in treating 
you as they did, and they promised never to do so 
again. They say they will pay you in horses and 
mules for the goods they took from you on the Cana- 
dian, if you will only come once more into our coun- 
try. Come with your goods among us; you shall be 
well treated. I pledge you my word, the word of 
Cordaro, that you shall not be hurt nor your goods 
taken from you without full payment. Each of my 
nation promises to give you a horse if you will come 
and trade with us once more, and though poor, and 
though I got none of your goods, yet I will give 
you two of the best horses in the nation. Come to 
our country once more and you shall find friends 
among the Camanches. Come and you shall be safe. 
Cordaro says it." The old warrior spoke like an 
orator and looked like a statesman. He appeared 
conscious of the vast superiority of the whites, or 
rather of the Americans, to his own race and de- 
sired the elevation of his countrymen by adopting 
some of our improvements and customs. For the 
Spaniards he entertained a strong aversion and dis- 
like; not at all mingled with fear, however, for he 
spoke to them always as an equal or superior. They 
refused to trade with his nation in arms and had 
nothing besides which his people wanted. Their 
remarkable disposition to treachery appeared to be 
perfectly known to the old chieftain. 



[l822] 139 

After the council, Cordaro desired me to write 
a letter for him to his great friend, Colonel Jameson 
of Nacatoche, and make known to him the manner 
in which he had remembered his promise to protect 
the Americans in his country, by saving me and my 
company from death at the hands of his country- 
men. I wrote the letter and delivered it to him. On 
the next day we parted, and I never saw him again. 
On my trip to the Camanche country in 1822 I was 
informed by the Indians that he went to Nacatoche 
with my letter to Col. Jameson, who gave him three 
horses, loaded with presents. By this means he re- 
turned to his country a rich man, and soon after be- 
came sick and died. He was a sagacious, right- 
hearted patriot and a brave warrior, who in differ- 
ent circumstances might have accomplished the des- 
tiny of a hero and savior of his country. 

I continued my trading, though without much suc- 
cess on account of the scarcity of money. I had 
seen enough of Mexican society to be thoroughly 
disgusted with it. I had not supposed it possible 
for any society to be as profligate and vicious as I 
found all ranks of that in Santa Fe. The Indians 
are much superior to their Spanish masters in all 
qualities of a useful and meritorious population. 

On the fifth of February a celebration took place 
of Mexican Independence.^ A few days before this 

2 "The 6th of January 1822, was set apart for a formal celebra- 
tion. At dawn the salute of artillery and the marching of proces- 
sions began ; and with dawn of the next day ended the grand baile 
at the palacio. Never did Santa Fe behold such a splendid display. 
. . . All through the day and night the villa was painted red 



I40 [l822] 

appointed time, a meeting of the Spanish officers 
and principal citizens was held at the house of the 
Alcalde to make arrangements for the celebration. 
They sent for me, asked what was the custom in my 
country on such occasions, and requested my advice 
in the matter. I advised them to raise a liberty pole, 
hoist a flag and fire a salute for each Province. They 
counted up the Provinces or States, and discovered 
that Mexico contained twenty-one, including Texas. 
They said they knew nothing of the rule of proceed- 
ing in such cases and desired me to superintend the 
work. I sent out men to the neighboring mountains 
for the tallest pine that could be found. They re- 
turned with one thirty feet long. I sent them out 
again, and they brought in another much longer than 
the first. I spliced these together, prepared a flag 
rope and raised the whole, as a liberty pole, about 
seventy feet high. There was now great perplexity 
for a national emblem and motto for the flag, none 
having yet been devised, and those of Spain being 
out of the question. I recommended the eagle, but 
they at last agreed upon two clasped hands in sign of 
brotherhood and amity with all nations. By day- 
light on the morning of the fifth I was aroused to 
direct the raising of the flag. I arose and went to 
the square, where I found about a dozen men with 

with independence or death, and Governor Melgares wrote a flaming 
account of the whole affair for the Gaceta Imperial. Doubtless, Don 
Facundo, realizing on which side his bread was buttered, saw to it 
that nothing was lost in telling the story; and presumably the fall 
of Iturbide, a little later, was celebrated with equal enthusiasm. 
There was nothing mean or one-sided in New Mexican patriotism." 
Bancroft, History of Arizona and Neiv Mexico, 309. 



[l822] 



141 



the Governor, Don Facundo Malgaris,^ all in a 
quandary, not knowing what to do. I informed the 
Governor that all was ready for raising the flag, 
which honor belonged to him. "Oh, do it yourself," 
said he, "you understand such things." So I raised 
the first flag in the free and independent State of 
New Mexico. As the flag went up, the cannon fired 
and men and women from all quarters of the city 
came running, some half dressed, to the public 
square, which was soon filled with the population 
of this city. The people of the surrounding country 
also came in, and for five days the square was cov- 
ered with Spaniards and Indians from every part 
of the province. During this whole time the city ex- 
hibited a scene of universal carousing and revelry. 
All classes abandoned themselves to the most reck- 
less dissipation and profligacy. No Italian carnival 
ever exceeded this celebration in thoughtlessness, vice 
and licentiousness of every description. Men, women 
and children crowded every part of the city, and the 

3 "Don Facundo Malgares was a European (his uncle was one 
of the royal judges in the kingdom of New Spain), and had dis- 
tinguished himself in several long expeditions against the Apaches 
and other Indian nations with whom the Spaniards were at war; 
added to these circumstances he was a man of immense fortune, and 
generous in its disposal, almost to profusion; possessed of a liberal 
education, high sense of honor, and a disposition formed for military- 
enterprise; a gentleman, a soldier and one of the most gallant men 
you ever knew." 2 Pike's Expeditions, Coues' Ed. 413. Malgares 
commanded an expedition from Santa Fe to the Pawnee village in 
Kansas, which he left a few weeks before Pike reached it. After 
Pike and his men were taken by the Spaniards, Malgares com- 
manded the party which conducted them from Santa Fe to Chihua- 
hua. His treatment of Pike was courteous and Pike parted with 
him with "the greatest friendship." Malgares was the last civil 
and military governor of New Mexico under the Spanish crown, 
the period of his governorship covering the years 1818-1822. 



142 [l822] 

carousal was kept up equally by night and day. There 
seemed to be no time for sleep. Tables for gam- 
bling surrounded the square and continually occupied 
the attention of crowds. Dice and faro banks were 
all the time in constant play. I never saw any people 
so infatuated with the passion for gaming. Women 
of rank were seen betting at the faro banks and dice 
tables. They frequently lost all their money; then 
followed the jewelry from their fingers, arms and 
ears : then the ribose or sash edged with gold, which 
they wear over the shoulders, was staked and lost, 
when the fair gamesters would go to their homes 
for money to redeem the last pledge and if possible, 
continue the play. Men and women on all sides of 
me were thus engaged, and were all equally absorbed 
in the fluctuating fortunes of these games. The 
demon of chance and of avarice seemed to possess 
them all, to the loss of what little reason nature had 
originally made theirs. One universal jubilee, like 
bedlam broke loose, reigned in Santa Fe for five days 
and nights. Freedom without restraint or license 
was the order of the day; and thus did these rejoic- 
ing republicans continue the celebration of their In- 
dependence till nature was too much exhausted to 
support the dissipation any longer. The crowds 
then dispersed to their homes with all the punish- 
ments of excess with which pleasure visits her vota- 
ries. I saw enough during this five days' revelry to 
convince me that the republicans of New Mexico 
were unfit to govern themselves or anybody else. 



[l822] 143 

The Indians acted with more moderation and reason 
in their rejoicing than the Spaniards. 

On the second day of the celebration a large com- 
pany of men and women from San Felipe,* an Indian 
town forty miles south of Santa Fe, marched into 
the city, displaying the best-formed persons I had 
yet seen in the country. The men were a head taller 
than the Spaniards around them, and their women 
were extremely beautiful, with fine figure and a grace- 
ful, elegant carriage. They were all tastefully 
dressed in cotton cloth of their own weaving and dec- 
orated with coral beads of a brilliant red color. Many 
wore rich pearl necklaces and jewelry of great value. 
I was told by Ortise that the ornaments of stone, 
silver and gold which some of these Indian ladies 
wore were worth five hundred dollars. The red coral 
was worth one hundred dollars per pound. Many 
of the Indians, as the reader may suppose from this 
description of their women, are very wealthy. The 
men were also elegantly dressed in fine cloth, man- 
ufactured by their own wives and daughters. The 
Americans with their tariff and "protection of home 
industry," might learn a lesson from these wise and 
industrious Indians. I heard nothing among them 
of a tariff to protect their "domestic manufactures." 
They worked and produced and protection came of 
itself without the curse of government interference. 
This Indian company danced very gracefully upon 
the public square to the sound of a drum and the 

4 San Felipe was a village on the west side of the Rio Grande, 
about thirty five miles from Santa Fe. It was visited and described 
by Pike (2 Pike's Expedition (Coues' Ed.) 616). Emory gives a 
picture of the village in his Notes. 



144 [1822] 

singing of the older members of their band. In this 
exercise they displayed great skill and dexterity. 
When intermingled in apparently hopeless confusion 
in a very complicated figure, so that the dance seemed 
on the point of breaking up, suddenly at the tap of 
the drum, each found his partner and each couple 
their place, without the least disorder and in admir- 
able harmony. About the same time the Peccas 
Indians came into the city, dressed in skins of bulls 
and bears. At a distance their disguise was quite 
successful and they looked like the animals which 
they counterfeited so well that the people fled fright- 
ened at their appearance, in great confusion from 
the square. 

I have spoken before, in favorable terms of the 
Mexican Indians. They are a nobler race of people 
than their masters, the descendants of the conquer- 
ors; more courageous and more generous; more 
faithful to their word and more ingenious and in- 
tellectual than the Spaniards. The men are gen- 
erally six feet in stature, well formed and of an open, 
frank and manly deportment. Their women are very 
fascinating, and far superior in virtue, as in beauty, 
to the greater number of the Spanish females. I 
was informed that all the tribes, the Utahs, the Nav- 
ahoes, and others inhabiting the county west of the 
mountains to the Gulf of California, like those in 
Mexico, lived in comfortable houses, raised wheat 
and corn, and had good mills for grinding their 
grain. I saw many specimens of their skill in the 
useful arts, and brought home with me some blank- 



[l822] J4^ 

ets and counterpanes, of Indian manufacture of ex- 
quisite workmanship, which I have used in my fam- 
ily for twenty-five years. They are generally far 
in advance of the Spaniards around them, in all the 
arts of civilized life as well as in the virtues that give 
value to national character. 

In the latter part of February I received a deputa- 
tion of fifty Indians from the Utah' tribe on the west 
side of the mountains. They came riding into the 
city and paraded on the public square, all 'well 
mounted on the most elegant horses I had ever seen. 
The animals were of a very superior breed, with 
their slender, tapering legs and short, fine hair, like 
our best blooded racers. They were of almost every 
color, some spotted and striped as if painted for 
ornament. The Indians alighted at the Council 
House and sent a request for me to visit them. On 
arriving I found them all awaiting me in the Coun- 
cil House, with a company of Spanish oflicers and 
gentlemen led hither by curiosity. On entering I 
was greeted by the chief and his companions, who 
shook hands with me. The chief, whose name was 
Lechat, was a young man of about thirty and of a 
right princely port and bearing. He told me in the 
Spanish language, which he spoke fluently, that he 
had come expressly to see me and have a talk with 
me. "You are Americans, we are told, and you 
have come from your country afar off to trade with 

^ 5 Beckwourth had no such exalted opinion of the Utes. He says 
I had no manner of fear of them, for I knew them to be great cow- 
ards; with one hundred and fifty good Crow warriors I would have 
chased a thousand of them." Life and Adventures, p. 457 



146 [1822] 

the Spaniards. We want your trade. Come to our 
country with your goods. Come and trade with the 
Utahs. We have horses, mules and sheep, more 
than we want. We heard that you wanted beaver 
skins. The beavers in our country are eating up 
our corn. All our rivers are full of them. Their 
dams back up the water in the rivers all along their 
course from the mountains to the Big Water. Come 
over among us and you shall have as many beaver 
skins as you want." Turning round and pointing to 
the Spaniards, in most contemptuous manner and 
with a scornful look, he said, "What can you get 
from these ? They have nothing to trade with 
you. They have nothing but a few poor horses 
and mules, a little puncha, and a little tola (to- 
bacco and corn meal porridge) not fit for anybody 
to use. They are poor — too poor for you to trade 
with. Come among the Utahs if you wish to trade 
with profit. Look at our horses here. Have the 
Spaniards any such horses? No, they are too poor. 
Such as these we have in our country by the thou- 
sand, and also cattle, sheep and mules. These Span- 
iards," said he, turning and pointing his finger at 
them in a style of contempt which John Randolph 
would have envied, "what are they? What have 
they? They won't even give us two loads of powder 
and lead for a beaver skin, and for a good reason, 
they have not as much as they want themselves. 
They have nothing that you want. We have every- 
thing that they have, and many things that they have 
not." Here a Spaniard cried out, "You have no 



[1822] 147 

money." Like a true stump orator the Utah replied, 
"And you have very Uttle. You are depicca." In 
other words, you are poor, miserable devils and we 
are the true capitalists of the country. With this 
and much more of the same purport, he concluded 
his harangue, which was delivered in the most inde- 
pendent and lordly manner possible. He looked like 
a king upbraiding his subjects for being poor, when 
they might be rich, and his whole conduct seemed to 
me like bearding a wild beast in his den. The "talk" 
being had, Lechat produced the calama or pipe, and 
we smoked together in the manner of the Indians. I 
sent to my store and procured six plugs of tobacco 
and some handkerchiefs, which I presented to him 
and his company, telling them when they smoked the 
tobacco with their chiefs to remember the Americans, 
and treat all who visited their country from mine as 
they would their own brothers. The council now 
broke up and the chief, reiterating his invitations to 
me to visit his country, mounted his noble steed, and 
with his company rode out of the city, singing and 
displaying the handkerchiefs I had presented them 
from the ends of their lances as standards. They 
departed without the least show of respect for the 
Spaniards, but rather with a strong demonstration 
on the part of Lechat of contempt for them. I no- 
ticed them at the council inquiring of this chief with 
considerable interest what the Navahoes were doing, 
and whether they were preparing to attack the Span- 
ish settlements. They had been at war with this 
tribe for several years, and seemed to fear that the 



148 [l822] 

Utahs might take part in it as allies of the Nava- 
hoes, for which reason they conducted themselves 
with the utmost respect and forbearance towards 
Lechat and his band. What was the immediate 
cause of this war, I did not learn, but I saw and 
heard enough of it to enlist my sympathies with 
the Navahoes. A few days after the visit of the 
Utahs, I saw a solitary Indian of that tribe crossing 
the public square in the direction of the Governor's 
house, and driving before him a fat heifer. He went 
up to the Governor's door, to whom he sent word 
that he had a present for him, and was admitted. 
What followed, I learned from Ortise, an old Al- 
calde, with whom I boarded during the time of my 
stay in Santa Fe. As he entered the room of the 
Governor the Navaho prostrated himself on his face. 
The Governor stepped towards him and with a 
spurning motion of the foot which touched the In- 
dian's head, asked him who he was and what he 
wanted. The poor Indian arose on his knees and 
said he was a Navaho, and had come to implore 
peace for his nation. "We are tired of war and we 
want peace," said he; "our crops are destroyed, our 
women and children are starving. Oh ! give us 
peace !" The Governor asked the interpreter what 
he said, and being told, the christian replied, "Tell 
him I do not want peace, I want war." With this 
answer the Indian was dismissed, the Governor keep- 
ing his heifer. The poor fellow came to my store, 
announced his name and nation, and requested me to 
go among his tribe and trade. He said the rivers 



[l822] 149 

were full of beaver and beaver dams — that they 
had horses and mules which they would exchange 
for powder, lead and tobacco. The Indians are des- 
titute of ammunition and guns, and Spanish laws 
prohibit all trade with them in these articles. I 
gave him several plugs of tobacco, a knife and other 
small articles, and told him when he went back 
to his country to smoke my tobacco with his chiefs 
and tell them if any Americans came to their coun- 
try to treat them like brothers. He went off with a 
guard as far as the outposts on the route to his coun- 
try. But I have no doubt he was murdered by the 
Spaniards long before reaching his home. About a 
week after this, sixteen Navaho chiefs came into the 
town of St. James, sixty miles below Santa Fe on 
the Del Norte, and requested the commander of the 
fort to allow them to pass on to the Governor at 
Santa Fe, saying that they had come to make peace. 
The commander invited them into the fort, smoked 
with them and made a show of friendship. He had 
placed a Spaniard on each side of every Indian as 
they sat and smoked in a circle, and at a signal each 
Indian was seized by his two Spanish companions 
and held fast while others despatched them by stab- 
bing each one to the heart. A Spaniard who figured 
in this butchery showed me his knife, which he said 
had killed eight of them. Their dead bodies were 
thrown over the wall of the fort and covered with a 
little earth in a gully. A few days afterwards five 
more of the same nation appeared on the bank of the 
river opposite the town and inquired for their coun- 



150 [1822] 

trymen. The Spaniards told them they had gone 
on to Santa Fe, invited them to come over the river, 
and said they should be well treated. They crossed 
and were murdered in the same manner as the others. 
There again appeared three Indians on the opposite 
bank, inquiring for their chiefs. They were decoyed 
across, taken into the town under the mask of friend- 
ship, and also murdered in cold blood. In a few days 
two more appeared, but could not be induced to 
cross; when some Spanish horseman went down the 
river to intercept them. Perceiving this movement, 
they fled and no more embassies came in. The next 
news that came told of a descent made by the Nav- 
ahoes in great force on the settlements in the south, 
in which they killed all of every age and condition, 
burned and destroyed all they could not take away 
with them, and drove away the sheep, cattle and 
horses. They came from the south directly towards 
Santa Fe, sweeping everything before them and leav- 
ing the land desolate behind them. They recrossed 
the Del Norte below Santa Fe and passed to the 
north, laid bare the country around the town of 
Taos, and then disappeared with all their booty. 
While this was going on, Malgaris was getting out 
the militia and putting nearly all the inhabitants 
under arms, preparatory to an expedition. I was 
requested to go, but I preferred to be a spectator 
in such a war. The militia of Santa Fe when on 
parade beggared all description. Falstaff's company 
was well equipped and well furnished, compared with 
these troops of Gov. Malgaris. Such a gang of tat- 



[l822] 151 

terdemallons, I never saw, before or since. They 
were of all colors, with all kinds of dresses and 
every species of arms. Some were bareheaded, 
others were barebacked — some had hats without 
rims or crowns, and some wore coats without skirts ; 
others again wore coats without sleeves. Most of 
them were armed with bows and arrows. A few 
had guns that looked as if they had been imported 
by Cortez, while others had iron hoops fastened to 
the ends of poles, which passed for lances. The 
doughty Governor, Facundo Malgaris, on foot, in 
his cloak and chapeau de bras, was reviewing this 
noble army. He was five feet high, nearly as thick 
as he was long, and as he waddled from one end 
of the line to the other, I thought of Alexander and 
Hannibal and Caesar, and how their glories would 
soon be eclipsed by this hero of Santa Fe. After 
him followed the Adjutant in his jacket with red cuffs 
and collar, and with his frog-sticker, called a sword, 
at his side. He examined the bows and arrows, 
lances and other arms of these invincibles. He with 
the little Governor seemed big with the fate of New 
Mexico. At last when all was ready, the Governor 
sent them forth to the war and himself went to his 
dinner. In the meantime where was the enemy — 
the bloodthirsty Navahoes? They had returned in 
safety to their own country with all their plunder, 
and were even then far beyond the reach of Gov. 
Malgaris' troop of scarecrows. 

In the beginning of March, finding that trade was 
dull and money very scarce in Santa Fe, I inquired 



152 [l822] 

for a better place of business and was advised by Or- 
tise to go to Sonora on the Gulf of California, where 
gold and silver was more abundant than in New 
Mexico. I requested him to go with me; he declined 
going himself, but procured his brother, whom I 
hired, to go as guide for $12, for each mule load. 
I packed up my goods, and had got ready for the 
journey when Ortise came in with a gloomy coun- 
tenance and asked if I had asked permission of the 
Governor to go to Sonora. I said I had not, and 
he advised me to see him. I went to his house, ap- 
prehensive of hostility, and found the dignitary walk- 
ing with a lordly air up and down his piazza. As I 
approached he strutted away from me to the oppo- 
site end of the gallery without deigning to notice me. 
I stood and waited his return, and as he came up I 
accosted him politely, and said I could not sell my 
goods in Santa Fe and had called to obtain his per- 
mission to go with them to Sonora, where I had un- 
derstood money was more plenty than in Santa Fe. 
"You can't go, sir," growled his Excellency, and con- 
tinued his promenade. I followed and asked him 
why I could not go. He said he had no orders to 
let me go. I asked him if he had any orders to pre- 
vent me. He said no. I then said, you know that I 
have a passport from my government, approved by 
the Spanish minister. "Oh, we have nothing to do 
with the Spanish Government." But you have some- 
thing to do with my government. I shall start for 
Sonoro, and if you arrest or imprison me on my way, 
my government shall hear from me. This appeared 



[l822] 153 

to agitate the little grandee and set him to thinking 
for a moment. He paced to and fro a while, stopped 
short, and asked how I was going. With Don 
Francisco Ortise as guide. At this he burst into 
a loud laugh. "Ho, ho ! Don Francisco will go with 
you, will he ? Well, Don Thomas, you can go, but 
I will send a party of soldiers with you to the out- 
posts, and if any Spaniard attempt to go further 
with you I will have him brought back in irons and 
thrown into prison. You will have to pass through 
the country of the Apaches, and you will be robbed, 
perhaps murdered, if you have no Spaniard with 
you. Now go, Don Thomas, now go — ha, ha, ha !" 
I now turned and left him. Ortise, whom I consid- 
ered my friend, advised me by no means to make 
the attempt to reach Sonora without a Spanish guide 
and I gave up the project. I regarded this the re- 
sult of a plot to detain me in Santa Fe till spring, 
when they knew I was to return, and would have to 
sell my goods at any price. I went, on the evening 
of my interview with the Governor, to the house of 
a sick Lieutenant, where I found the Adjutant and 
several other officers. They asked, with a sly glance 
at each other, when I was going to Sonora. I am 
not going. "Why, so we heard, you were all ready 
to start. You have a passport, have you not?" Yes, 
said I, but the Governor threatens to imprison any 
Spaniard that attempts to go with me. He has im- 
prisoned all my countrymen that came here before 
me, and I suppose. If he dared, he would imprison 
me. Here the sick Lieutenant shook my knee by 



154 [i822] 

way of caution, and the Adjutant leaped up exclaim- 
ing, "If he dared! What do you mean sir? be care- 
ful how you talk;" and put his hand on the butcher 
knife at his side, called a sword. I had a dirk at my 
breast, as good a weapon as his, and facing him, I 
repeated, "Yes, if he dared; but he dares not, nor 
dare any of you imprison me while I observe your 
laws. You have robbed and imprisoned all my coun- 
trymen heretofore, but my government will now stop 
this baseness and cruelty to the Americans. If you 
violate my rights while I have an American pass- 
port my government will avenge my wrongs on your 
heads." This appeared to cool the Adjutant, who 
said we were friends and that he would not tell the 
Governor. "Tell him or not, as you please," said I. 
I wish, for the honor of my country, or rather, of 
my government, that the name of American citizen 
were a better protection in a foreign country than it 
is. Ancient Rome and modern England are exam- 
ples to us in this respect. A subject of the English 
monarchy in a foreign country is sure that any fla- 
grant violation of his natural rights will be avenged, 
if necessary, by the whole military and naval power 
of his country. An Englishman, like an ancient 
Roman citizen, knows that his government will look 
after him and is sure of protection. An American 
is sure of nothing. His government may, amid the 
turmoil of electioneering, demand him from his jail- 
ors, but it is more likely to overlook him entirely 
as beneath its regard. The case of Robert McKnight, 
who returned in April with John, his brother, from 



[I822] I„ 

Durango, after an imprisonment of ten years, was 
a remarkable instance of the delinquency of our gov- 
ernment in this particular. His goods had been con- 
fiscated and himself and his companions thrown into 
prison, where they remained ten years, and during 
the whole time their own government was sleeping 
on their wrongs. No notice whatever was taken of 
them; and when McKnight returned to his country 
he was equally unsuccessful in seeking redress. "I 
will go back to Mexico," said he, "swear allegiance 
to their government and become a citizen. I have 
resided the prescribed term of years, and there is a 
better chance for obtaining justice from the Mexi- 
cans, scoundrels as they are, than from my own gov- 
ernment. I will go and recover as a citizen of Mex- 
ico what I lost as a citizen of the United States. My 
own government refuses to do me justice, and I will 
renounce it forever. I would not raise a straw in 
its defense." He accordingly returned to Mexico, 
where he probably received remuneration for his 
losses, and where he now lives a citizen of the coun- 
try.^ 

While in Santa Fe I was a frequent visitor at the 
house of the parish priest, a very gentlemanly, in- 
telligent man, where I often found an interesting 

Q .... 

^Robert McKnight returned 
to Chihuahua in 1824 and 
engaged in mining and trad- 
ing, in which he made a fortune. He was after a time compelled to 
abandon his mines in consequence of the Apache Indians cutting off 
his supplies. Both Kit Carson and James Kirker were in his employ. 
Letters of administration upon his estate were granted in St. Louis 
31 August, 1846. ' 




156 [l822] 

company assembled. I supped at his house on one 
occasion with sixteen Spanish gentlemen of educa- 
tion, and some of distinction. The conversation hap- 
pened to turn on the power and condition of the 
United States, and particularly on the country west 
of the Mississippi. They said the country west of 
this river once belonged to them, and agreed that it 
would some day return to their possession. They 
said that Spain had ceded it to Bonaparte without 
their consent, and that it, of right, belonged to Mex- 
ico. They also expressed great dissatisfaction with 
the line of the Sabine, alleging that it ought to have 
been and would yet be the Mississippi instead of the 
former river. I told them that my countrymen were 
also dissatisfied with the Sabine as the boundary. 
"Ah," exclaimed one, "then we shall have little dif- 
ficulty in changing it; both sides will be agreed." 
"Not so fast," said I; "we think the boundary ought 
to have been the Rio Del Norte." "What!" said 
they, "the Del Norte; that would take In Santa Fe." 
"Yes, Seignors," said I, "we claim to the Del Norte." 
"Never, never — you will never get It, and if it ever 
comes to a trial of power between Mexico and the 
States, we will have to the Mississippi. You will be 
compelled to give it to us." I told them to mark my 
words and said, "If ever the boundary is changed 
you will see It go westward and not to the east." 

The spring was nearly gone and most of my goods 
remained unsold. Money was very scarce, and I 
had little prospect of selling them at any price. I 
offered them at cost, and at last found a purchaser 
of most of them in a Spaniard named Pino, who paid 



[l822] 157 

me one thousand dollars in cash and an equal sum 
in horses and mules. He borrowed the money of 
Francisco Chavis, the father of Antonio, who was 
murdered in the United States by Mason, Brown and 
McDaniel. The last two were convicted of the mur- 
der on the testimony of Mason and executed in St, 
Louis in 1844.'^ After this trade with Pino I had 
still on my hands a large quantity of brown and grey 
cloths, which were unsalable in the Spanish market; 
blue and other colors being preferred. These cloths 
I sold to Hugh Glenn, who again honored me with a 
visit in the latter part of May, stayed with me two 
weeks, borrowed forty dollars, in addition to the 
sixty I had already loaned him, and gave me his note 
for the money and goods, which (the note) I have 
held to this day. He wanted the goods to sell to his 
company, who were trapping near Taos, and prom- 
ised to pay me the money as soon as he reached St. 
Louis and disposed of his beaver fur. Taking him 
for a man of honor, I treated him as such, to my 
own loss. 

I was now ready to depart for home, having dis- 
posed or got rid, rather, of my goods and collected 
all my debts except one from the Governor. During 

'^ Chavez "was murdered in the spring of 1843, near where the 
Santa Fe trail crossed Cow Creek, in what is now Reno County, 
Kansas. The murderers, about ten in number, were apprehended 
in western Missouri, and brought to St. Louis for trial. William 
Mason confessed and became state's evidence. John McDaniel and 
William Brown were tried for murder and convicted. Some of the 
others confessed to robbery, and some were convicted of that crime, 
and were sent to prison. McDaniel and Brown were hanged in St. 
Louis, Friday afternoon, 18 August, 1844, on a scaflFold erected a 
few hundred yards west of the Arsenal. As was the custom in 
those days a large number of men, women and children were spec- 
tators at the execution, and each of the criminals made a speech. 



158 [l822] 

the winter his Excellency had sent his Excellency's 
secretary to my store for some samples of cloth. The 
secretary after taking these with some shawls for 
the examination of his master, returned and pur- 
chased goods for his Excellency to the sum of eighty- 
three dollars and told me to charge them to his Excel- 
lency. I did so, and on the day before my departure 
I called at his Excellency's house and found his Ex- 
cellency looking every inch a Governor, and very 
pompously pacing the piazza as was the custom of his 
Excellency. I remarked that I was going home. 
"Very well," said his Excellency, "you can go;" and 
walked on. I awaited his Excellency's return, and 
again remarked that I was going home; that I did 
not expect to return, and would be thankful for the 
amount of his Excellency's account with me. "I 
have not a dollar. The government has not paid me 
in ten years, and how can I pay my creditors." I 
offered to take two mules. "I have no more mules 
than I want myself," said his Excellency. With this 
I parted forever with Gov. Malgaris of New Mex- 
ico. Ortise told me I could not sue him, as he was 
"the head of the law." 

Some time before this I saw a Spaniard who had 
been imprisoned for more than a year, and was then 
set at liberty. He had just come from the Command- 
ant, whom he asked for the cause of his imprison- 
ment. "You are at liberty now, are you not?" "Yes, 
but I wish to know why I have been so long deprived 
of liberty." "You are at liberty now, and that is 
enough for you to know," said the Commandant: 
And this was all the satisfaction the poor Spaniard 



[l822] 159 

could get. The following will illustrate the sum- 
mary method of administering justice in Santa Fe. 
There were many Americans deserters in the city 
from the fort at Nacatoche, some of whom had lived 
here sixteen years, and were generally of bad char- 
acter. Robert McKnight had entrusted one of these, 
named Finch, with a valuable sword to sell for him. 
Finch pawned the sword for twelve dollars, and see- 
ing him with money, I told McKnight he would 
never get anything for his sword as Finch was spend- 
ing the money he had raised on it. "There is no 
danger," said he; "Finch would not trifle with me." 
On the next day he demanded his sword or the money 
from Finch, who refused to give him any satisfac- 
tion; whereupon McKnight seized and dashed him 
about twelve feet, head foremost against a door of 
the fort. I interfered and saved Finch from any 
further injury than a severe cut on his head. He 
then confessed the fact of his having pawned the 
sword and named the place where it could be found. 
McKnight now went before the Alcalde, a stern old 
Spaniard, who called his officer and handed him his 
gold-headed cane as a warrant for bringing up Finch, 
the sword and the pawnee.® They all arrived, Finch 

8 "The practice before the Alcalde in these days [1854] was ex- 
ceedingly primitive, and whenever justice was obtained it was 
quickly meted out. A man, with his cause of complaint, went in 
person before that officer, and made a plain statement of the action, 
when the Alcalde directed the complainant to bring the defendant 
before him. When the parties appeared, the Alcalde allowed each 
to give his own version of the case, and occasionally examined wit- 
nesses sworn upon a cross made by crossing the finger and thumb. 
Sometimes the matter in dispute was left to the decision of third per- 
sons, but a trial by jury was unknown. The decision of the Alcalde 
was seldom made up according to the merits of the case, and much 
too frequently the judgment was purchased with money. When the 



i6o [1822] 

with his head tied up in a handkerchief, when the 
Alcalde took the sword from the Spaniard who had 
taken it in pledge, and asked him if he knew for 
what purpose Finch had received it. He admitted 
that Finch told him at the time of pawning it, that 
he had received it to sell. "Then," said the Alcalde, 
"if you had bought it, though only for five dollars, 
you could now keep it, but you had no right to take it 
in pawn;" and thereupon handed the sword to Mc- 
Knight as the true owner. "But who will pay me 
my twelve dollars?" said the bailee. "That lies be- 
tween you and Finch." "And what am I to get for 
my broken head?" said Finch. "I know nothing 
about that, Finch," said the magistrate; "but if you 
do not behave yourself better than you have done of 
late, I will drive you out of the province." So, Mc- 
Knight got his sword and a little revenge without 
having a bill of costs or lawyer's fee to pay. 

Most of my company had been engaged in trap- 
ping during my stay in Santa Fe, and some had gone 
far into the interior of Mexico. Collecting such as 
remained, and in company with the McKnights, I 
now, on the first of June, 1822, bade adieu forever 
to the capital of New Mexico, and was perfectly 
content never to repeat my visit to it or any other 
part of the country. 

defendant failed to appear at the verbal summons of the plaintifiF, the 
Alcalde dispatched after him the regular process of the Court. This 
was a large cane dignified with the name of baston de justicta, or 
staff of justice, which was held in much more dread than a modern 
warrant. If he did not respond to the mandate of the cane, he was 
considered in contempt of court, and was sure to be punished ac- 
cordingly." El Gringo; or Neiv Mexico and Her People, by W. W. 
H. Davis. The Alcalde in McKnight's case seems to have known 
something of law, for his decision was strictly accordingly to rule. 



CHAPTER FIVE 

Col. Glenn's Conversion — His Profits Thereby — Avenues to New 
Mexico — An Instance of Spanish Treachery and Cruelty — 
Glenn's Cowardice — Meeting With the Pawnees — Mexican In- 
dians — Battle Between the Pawnees and Osages — Disappear- 
ance of Glenn — Chouteau and the Osages — Indian Revenge — 
Passage of the Neosho — Singular Ferrying — Entrance Into 
Missouri — Robbery by the Osages — Interview With Mission- 
aries — Arrival at St. Louis — More of Glenn — Home — Still 
Greater Troubles With Creditors Than With the Indians. 

I STARTED from Santa Fe with Hugh Glenn 
on his return to Taos, whence he was to go with 
me to St. Louis. ^ On arriving at the Spanish village 
of San Domingo, about thirty miles north of Santa 
Fe and five from the Indian village of St. John, we 
stopped by invitation at the house of the parish 
priest, where the principal citizens visited us during 
the evening. Here I was somewhat astonished to 
hear Glenn, late at night, tell the priest that he wished 
to be baptized and join the church. He said in an- 
swer to the priest's questions that he had entertained 
this Intention for a long time before coming to this 
country; that he had endeavored to instruct him- 
self in relation to the tenets of the church, and pro- 
duced a Catholic book, called the "Pious Guide." 
The priest told him to reflect on the subject and 

1 Fowler says under date "Satterday ist June 1822," that "We Set 
out Early to Join the party at the vilege [Taos] Wheare We found 
all Ready to Start — all So James and mcnights party from Stafee 
Had Joined ours and all moved on together." Journal, p. 142. 

161 



i62 [1822] 

pray to the Almighty for light. In the morning 
Glenn appeared with a very sanctimonious face, and 
repeated his request. The priest questioned him on 
the Catholic faith and the novice answered very In- 
telligently. It being Sunday, they went to the church 
to have the ceremony of baptism performed on the 
new convert. Leroy,^ one of his company, acted as 
godfather, and the priest procured a very respect- 
able old lady of the place to act as godmother. The 
saintly Colonel Glenn looked the very picture of 
sanctity during the performance of the rite; and 
he afterwards made a good penny by the operation. 
The people were very fond of their new convert, and 
showered honors and presents on Colonel Glenn. He 
was talking of coming back from the States with 
goods for this market, and many of the inhabitants 
entrusted him with mules and money to make pur- 
chases for them, of which they never heard again. 
Among his religious rewards was a lot of the finest 
Indian blankets. The Colonel was a great and good 
man among the people from this time and bore the 
cross of his religion with edifying humility. 

On the next day we reached Taos,^ a small set- 
tlement near the mountains, in a beautiful and fer- 

2 The man called Leroy by James, was Jean Baptiste Antoine Roy, 
born at St. Louis 13 August, 1794, son of Antoine Roy and Felicite 
Vasquez. 

3 Taos. "The name Taos originally given to the region of coun- 
try embracing the headwaters of a river of the same name, has long 
since by universal custom been applied to the particular settlement of 
San Fernandez. The town is situated at the junction of the tw^ 
principal forks of the 'Rio de Taos,' and four or five miles from the 
western base of the Rocky Mountain range. Like most of the New 
Mexican towns it consists of a collection of mud houses, built around 



[l822] 163 

tile valley through which the Rio Grande flows and 
offers most valuable inducements to the manufacturer 
by its water power; but none are here found with 
sufficient enterprise to seize the offer. The country 
in the hands of the Americans would bloom like a 
garden, while now it languishes in a state of half 
wilderness — half cultivation. 

Leaving Taos with eighty-three horses and mules, 
with Glenn and his company who had about sixty, 
we travelled in one day half way over the moun- 
tains, stopping at night in the middle of the pass. 
Here we were overtaken by some Spaniards with a 
mule load of bread, biscuit, sugar, chocolate and 
other delicacies, all sent as a present to the godly 
Glenn by his godmother. He took them, I suppose, 
with pious thankfulness, much as a hog takes the 
acorns that fall to him from an oak tree — without 
ever looking up. On my return to St. Louis I heard 
of Glenn's sneers and ridicule of the clergy of New 
Mexico. The truth concerning them was bad enough, 
but I was astonished to hear them villified and abused 
by the so-lately converted Colonel Glenn. He 
changed his religion more rapidly than his clothes, 
and made each change a profitable speculation to 
himself. Such pliability of conscicence may serve a 
temporary purpose to its fortunate possessor, but I 
have found very few of my countrymen, thank God, 

a miserable square or plaza. It contains a mixed population of 
seven or eight hundred souls." Peck, in Emory's Notes, p. 456. 

Taos was later the home of Kit Carson, and there is much of in- 
terest told about the place in Sabin's Kit Carson Days, and see, also 
Miss Laut's Through Our Unkno<wn South West. 



164 [1822] 

so base as to practice hypocrisy to the alarming ex- 
tent to which this sordid miscreant carried its exer- 
cise. 

On the next day we marched to the foot of the 
mountain over which we had travelled for about 
fifty miles with the utmost ease through a regular 
and even pass with a very gradual ascent half the 
distance and thence with an equally gradual descent. 
There are three principal routes over the mountains 
to New Mexico. One below San Miguel, by which 
I went to Santa Fe, and which is easily passable for 
a large army without danger of surprise. The sec- 
ond, through which I was now returning to the 
States, and the third, a few miles to the north of this 
last and of Taos, are both excellent passes for trav- 
ellers and emigrants, but would not admit of an army 
in the face of an enemy. They are quite narrow 
and closed in by mountains of a great height and 
by numerous defiles, which in possession of an enemy 
would present great obstacles to an invading army. 
McKnight, who came through the northern pass, 
informed me that it was much better than this, near 
Taos. These three passes are all of slight eleva- 
tion, and present a gradual ascent and descent for 
about fifty miles, of no difficulty to the passenger and 
his teams. The most northern pass will probably 
become the great outlet of American emigration to 
California. 

At the end of our two days' journey from Taos 
we encamped at the foot of the mountain near large 
piles of stones placed on each side of a ravine or 



[l822] 165 

gully. These were in shape like immense walls, from 
ten to sixty feet in length, about ten wide, and from 
four to six feet in height. They were the tombs of 
Camanche Indians, who had been massacred at this 
place many years before by the Spaniards. An old 
man in Santa Fe whom I employed about my store, 
informed me of the circumstances of ths cold-blooded 
butchery, in which he as a Spanish soldier took part. 
It happened when my informant was about twenty 
years of age, which was a few years previous to our 
Revolutionary war. According to his account, the 
Spaniards and Camanches had been at war with each 
other for many years with various fortune on both 
sides, when the Spanish authorities determined to 
offer peace to their enemies. For this purpose they 
marched with a large army to this place of tombs, 
and encamped, whence they sent out heralds to the 
Camanches with an invitation to the whole nation to 
come in and smoke the pipe of peace and bury the 
hatchet of war forever. The unsuspecting Indians 
came in, pursuant to the invitation, and brought their 
women and children to the number of several thou- 
sands. The council was held and a solemn treaty 
formed which one side hoped and expected would 
be inviolate forever. They smoked the pipe of peace 
and of brotherhood. Everything betokened lasting 
harmony, and for three days an apparently friendly 
and cordial intercourse took place between the two 
powers. During this time the Spaniards insidously 
bought up all the bows and arrows, and other arms 
of the Indians, at very high prices, and the third 



i66 [1822] 

day found these simple children of nature stripped 
of their arms and entirely defenseless, In the midst 
of their treacherous enemies. Then ensued a scene 
of murder exceeding In atrocity even the celebrated 
slaughter of Glencoe, which occurred in Scotland a 
few years before this and under very similar circum- 
stances. The Spaniards having surrounded the In- 
dians, fell suddenly, at a concerted signal, upon them 
and killed all without regard to age or sex. The 
women and children clung to their protectors, who 
would not leave them and could not fight, and thus 
they were all slaughtered together. The bloody 
work continued most of the day and the dead were 
left in large heaps over the ground. The drain or 
gully, between the stone walls ran with blood on this 
terrible day, as the old Spaniard told me, like a 
spring freshet. Not a man, woman or child was 
spared; and my informant supposed that the exam- 
ple had deterred all the tribes of Camanches from 
making war on the people of Santa Fe from that day 
to this. The citizens of this town may have been 
exempt from attack, but we have always heard of 
the Incursions of these tribes on the Spanish settle- 
ments, and conduct like this of the Spaniards near 
Taos would and did sow deep the seeds of incurable 
hate which have frequently germinated since in 
bloody retributions. The countrymen of the slaugh- 
tered Indians afterwards erected the stone walls 
near to which we were now encamped, and which 
covered a large extent of ground, as tombs and 
monuments for the dead. Their power was greatly 



[l822] 167 

broken by the loss of so many warriors and the na- 
tion was a long time In recovering Its former 
strength. 

On the next morning after crossing the mountain 
we entered the prairies, which were frequently 
quite broken and uneven. The spurs of the moun- 
tains were covered with pine and cedar. Directing 
our course to the north-east, In four days we struck 
the Arkansas a considerable distance from its head. 
On the next day, and the seventh since leaving Taos, 
Col. Glenn, who marched In advance of me, sent 
back a man with the news that the "Camanches were 
ahead."* I hastened forward with the McKnights, 
and found Glenn stretched out on his blanket In a 
cold sweat and shaking with fear as if he had the 
ague. I asked, where are the Indians? "Oh there 
they are, hid behind that willow bar." I searched 
and found nothing, when Glenn again cried out, "Oh 
there they are," pointing to two men riding towards 
us on the opposite or north side of river, and also to 
a company of about two lodges, or twelve Indians 
going from us to the north-west. I soon perceived 
that the two men first seen were white, and one 
crossed the river to our company. They were a 

* Fowler's mention of these Indians is under date "Wensday, 12 
June, 1822;" he says, "a party of Indeans apeered on Hors back on 
the opeset Side of the River — We Hailed them the answered but 
Would not Come a Cross — We then Camped for the night — the In- 
deans moved off and Soon after a party of White men appeared on 
the Same Side one of them Came over to our Camp this was Conl 
Cooppers party from Boons lick on their Way to the Spanish Settle- 
ment With Some goods and Some traps to take Bever." Journal, p. 
154. 



i68 [1822] 

company of about twelve from Boon's Lick, of 
whom one was named Cooper, on their way to Santa 
Fe.^ Glenn, as much frightened as before, now in- 
sisted that the Indians whom we had seen had gone 
off to bring up their companions to attack us in the 
night. He had his horses and mules tied together 
and ordered his company to prepare for action. I 
determined to allow my horses to separate for graz- 
ing, and in looking for a good place for herding 
them, I espied and shot a buffalo under the cliff. This 
brought up all my company and a part of Glenn's to 
ascertain the cause of the shot, while Glenn was 
crying out to them, "Come back, you'll all be killed 
by the Indians." When I returned to the camp I told 
him to send some of his men for a part of the buf- 
falo, if he wanted any meat. "No, I want no meat 
and I will not travel with men so rash as to fire their 
guns while so near the Indians." In the morning 
we took up our march, with one of Cooper's party 
on his return to St. Louis, and with Glenn in ad- 
vance, who, intent on getting out of danger, soon 
out-travelled us. About two o'clock one of his men 
returned at full speed, caUing us to hurry on — 
here are two thousand Pawnees."® On overtaking 

^ Colonel Benjamin Cooper of Boon's Lick accompanied by his 
nephews, Braxton and Stephen Cooper, and some of his neighbors, 
fifteen persons in all, started for New Mexico in May, 1822. Glenn 
on his return to Missouri reported that he had met them on the Big 
Bend of the Arkansas. Later, rumors reached their homes that they 
had been robbed by the Indians and left in a starving condition, but 
these rumors were unfounded, and the party reached Taos without 
any serious mishap. 

^ Fowler {Journal, p. 157) under date 18 June, gives an account 
of this meeting with the Pawnees, in this way: — 



[1822] 169 

Glenn I found two Indians, who said the main army 
would soon be with them. I had brought with me 
from Taos two Mexican Indians who wished to go 
to the United States. Glenn knowing that the Paw- 
nees were at war with the Spaniards, said these Mex- 
icans would be killed on the coming up of the Pawnee 
army, and implored us to let them be killed "peace- 

"We then moved on about Eight miles and meet With Some Pawne 
Indeans — With Home [whom] We Camped — there Was With them 
one of the letan Cheefs Who Stated that He Was lately from Was- 
ington Cetey — In the Corse of the Evening the Indeans Collected to 
the nomber of from four to five Hundred — it is Hear proper to men- 
tion that Captain James Had two Spanierds With Him and that Conl 
glann Head two all So — but the last two Ware dressed like our 
Selves — but James Spanierds Wore their own Clothing and Ware 
Challenged by the Indeans as their Enemeys — a Councel Was Held 
Which lasted about two Hours the Inquirey Was Whether these 
men Ware Spanierds if so the must be killed as letan Cheef Insisted 
the Ware Spanierds and must be killed but the Pawne Cheef Re- 
fused to Have them killed till He new the Ware Spanierds the two 
men Ware Sot In the midle of the Councel and there Interageted but 
maid no answer leting on that the did not no What Was Said to 
them — to Which the had ben advised before they Ware takeing In 
to the Councel most of those Indeans understand the Spanish lan- 
guage but Cold not git one Word from the men the then asked Mr 
Roy the Inturpurter If those men Ware not Spanierds He told the 
Indeans He did not kno who the Ware that He Cold not Speeke 
their langage to Which the letan Cheef Replyed you do not kno thina 
you kno How to gave them Horses and Can tell them How to Ride 
and yet you Can not Spapke to them Which ia a little Strange How 
do you git them to Eat or Whare did you git them We See them 
Ride on your Horses — to which mr Roy answers as followes — for it 
is Hear now be Com nesceerv to fib a little — that about two days 
back We met a party of White men going up the River and that 
those men Ware With them that the Ware from St lewis and Wanted 
to go back and Had Come this far With us that We Head Some 
Spare Horses and that the Had got on and Road — the Pawne Cheef 
then Said that Some four or five years back He Had Sene Some Eng- 
lish men and french men together and the Cold not talk to Each 
other that maybe those Ware English men — to Which Mr. Roy an- 
swered that He Cold not talk English and did not kno these men — 
and So the Councel Ended the two Spanierds Pased for English men 
tho the Ware nearly as Black as pall [i. e. Paul, a negro of Fowler's] 
— but at all Events the Ware Blacker than the Indeans them Selves." 



lyo [1822] 

ably" and not endanger the whole party by any 
unnecessary resistance. I replied that these Indians 
were under my protection and should not be hurt. 
In a short time we saw the whole army pouring over 
the bend or knoll before us, which for half a mile 
was red with them, all afoot, except three, and every 
man carrying a rope lasso or cabras In his hand. 
Again did Glenn shake as with the ague, and the 
cold sweat stood on his face in drops. "Oh they are 
coming, they are coming," said he. One of their three 
horsemen rode past our band, then returned and 
halted at some distance as for a parley. I told 
Glenn to get up from the ground where he was ly- 
ing and go out to speak with this Indian. No, no, 
said he, we shall be shot down If we go out there. 
The creature's courage and senses seemed to have 
left him together. I went out with McKnight, shook 
hands with the Chiefs and brought them In among 
our men who spread buffalo skins on the ground for 
their reception, while I prepared the pipe which we 
smoked together. The leader of this army was a 
brother of the head Chief of the Pawnee nation, and 
one of the finest formed and best looking men I have 
ever seen. He was six feet in height, with large and 
powerful limbs, a large head, with a well developed 
front, and keen dark hazel eyes. His manner was 
dignified and commanding, and he evidently pos- 
sessed the confidence of his tribe. There was some- 
thing In him that at once drew out my heart towards 
him and secured my esteem and respect. He was 
now going, he told me, down to the country of the 



[l822] 171 

Camanches, Arripahoes and other tribes, near the 
Salt Plains, to conclude treaties of peace. They had 
been out ten days from their country and would have 
passed this place five days before had not this Chief 
been taken sick. He now looked feverish and weak. 
After smoking, the whole party of Indians, to the 
number of one thousand, gathered around us and 
four of them marched my Mexican friends into the 
circle and placed them before the Chief above men- 
tioned, who was sitting on the ground. All the In- 
dians except this Chief declared that these two were 
Mexicans and therefore their enemies, and many 
called for their scalps. A Kioway Chief made a vio- 
lent speech against them. He understanding the Span- 
ish language, desired them to speak with each other. 
They remaining silent, he then requested me to make 
them speak. I appeared not to understand, but 
said they were my men and under my protection. 
The Kioway then walked close to the Mexicans and 
in a friendly manner and confidential tone he said: 
"You are Spanish Indians, are you not? You can 
tell me; I am your friend. You know I am a Kio- 
way; we are not at war with you. We are friends. 
You are a Spanish Indian are you not? The Mexi- 
cans looked like condemned criminals during this 
shower of questions, and one of them looking up 
and meeting the eye of the Kioway, slightly nodded 
an affirmative to the last question. Instantly that 
Chief clapped his hands and exclaimed: "Do you 
hear that, they acknowledged it — they are Span- 
iards, these are the men who have been murdering 



172 [l822] 

your women and children, kill them — kill them." I 
placed myself before the Mexicans to defend them, 
and told the Pawnee Chiefs they should not be 
killed, and the older Chiefs cried out, "come, come, 
go and get some wood and make fires. Kill some 
buffaloes and get something to eat." This entirely 
changed the current. Losing sight of their Mexican 
enemies, they ran off with a shout in obedience to 
their Chief and scattered over the prairies on my 
horses which I loaned them. Away they went in all 
directions and soon returned with an abundance of 
buffalo meat. When they had disappeared, the 
Chief who had so soon dispersed them looked at me 
with a smile and said, pointing to the two Mexicans, 
"they are Spanish Indians I know; but they are with 
you and shall not be hurt. Last winter my brother 
went to Washington and saw our Great Father 
there. He said a great many things to my brother 
and made him a great many presents. And what he 
said went into his ear, and my brother told it again 
to me and it went into my ear and down to my heart. 
Our Great Father told my brother to treat all 
Americans well who visited his country, and my 
brother promised the Great Father, in the name of 
the whole nation, that we would do as he wished us 
to do towards the Americans. You and your friends 
are safe. You shall not be hurt." This Chief told 
me of some of his exploits as a warrior, one of 
which, then the latest, I will relate. His nation were 
at war with the Osages and in the fall before he had 
approached near to one of their largest villages with 



[l822] 173 

a war party, too small, however, to risk an attack. 
He concealed himself and his men behind a large 
mound in the prairie at some distance from the vil- 
lage, and sent forward eight well mounted Pawnees 
to reconnoitre. A large party of Osages gave chase 
to these eight, who retreated before them to the 
mound and then separated, four going to the right 
and four to the left around the mound, and were 
followed by their enemies who rushed blindly into 
the ambuscade. Our hero, the Pawnee, now gave 
the war whoop, and fell upon the Osages, whose 
jaded horses were unable to carry them out of dan- 
ger. A hundred of the Osages were killed in the 
fight or rather flight, and our hero, the Pawnee 
Chief, felt all the pride and pleasure of a Spartan 
in relating the triumph of his craft and valor. 

We encamped at night in the company with the 
Indians, the Chief lying near me, and in the morn- 
ing nothing had been disturbed. I made presents 
of tobacco to the Indians and selecting one of my 
best horses and a Spanish saddle, bridle and rope, 
and leading him up to the Chief, who had no horse 
of his own, I presented him with this one and the 
trappings. The Chief appeared ashamed at not 
having any thing to give in return, and said, "if you 
ever come again to my country, I will have two 
horses ready for you." I told him to treat all 
Americans well when visiting his country, and to 
protect them from their enemies. He appeared 
greatly affected and at parting, embraced me with 
both arms. 



174 [i822] 

After proceeding about a mile on our way we saw 
about thirty Indians running towards us^ and Glenn 
took another fright, said that these were coming to 
kill the two Mexicans, and again prayed me to give 
them up "peaceably." I said no, and the McKnights 
swore they would die themselves, rather than desert 
any of their comrades. They, with the rest of my 
company formed a circle around the Mexicans, while 
Glenn and his men hurried forward, and I stopped 
to speak with the advancing Indians. These were a 
hunting party belonging to the Pawnee army, who 
had not seen us before, having just returned from 
hunting, and now came to shake hands with us. 
They overtook Glenn for the same friendly purpose 
and then returned in high spirits to their country- 
men. Glenn now pushed on in a trot and soon went 
out of my sight where he has remained from that 
day to this.^ He sold his fur in St. Louis, went 
to Cincinnati, and cheated me out of his debt to me, 
as I ought to have expected him to do after his 
previous cowardice and hypocricy. 

"^ "Wensday 19 June. We Set out Early the Indeans apeer frendly 
— We moved on about five miles and looking behind We See the In- 
deans Runing after us — and all tho We drove the Horses In a trot 
the Will overtake us In a few minets — We Conclude it best to Stop 
and let them Come up Which Was done — We Stood prepared for 
Battle But Will Receve them frendly if We Can — now the Intur- 
preter prepaired a pipe and offered them a Smoke as the Came up 
Which the all axcepted of and looking amongst [us] asked Wheare 
the two men Ware Which the Soposed to be Spanierds and Ware 
Shone them — the then Went and Shook Hands With us all pointed 
us the Road Which We took and the Indeans Went Back the Ware 
fourteen In nomber" — Fowler's Journal, p. 159. 

8 "Friday 21st June 1822. — "We Seen James and partey this day 
a great distance to our Right raakeing down the Arkansas River." 



[l822] 175 

We now kept our course down the Arkansas, and 
on the next day crossed to the north bank of the 
river. One of my trunks fell into the river in cross- 
ing, and some rhubarb dissolving, became mixed 
with my shirts, journal, invoice and other papers in 
the trunk, and entirely destroyed them. The writ- 
ing was obliterated from the papers, and my jour- 
nal which I had kept since leaving home was ren- 
dered useless. My memory, which was always very 
retentive of events and incidents, enables me to sup- 
ply this loss with sufficient accuracy. 

On the third day after parting with the Pawnees 
we found the prairie strewed with buffalo skeletons, 
and saw at a distance in a bend of the river, a com- 
pany of men wearing hats. I learned afterwards 
that this was a company of traders bound for Santa 
Fe, who had been robbed by the Osages.^ Supposing 
it to be Glenn's Company, I passed on without 

Fowler's Journal, p. 161. The separation took place in what is now 
Barton County, Kansas. 

9 This was a party under the leadership of Captain William Beck- 
neli, also from the Boon's Lick neighborhood, which had started 
on 22 May. The company consisted of twenty one men with three 
wagons. Two of the men were taken by the Osages, and were 
stripped, barbarously whipped and robbed of their horses, guns and 
clothes. Colonel A. P. Chouteau came to the rescue and pre- 
vented further attacks upon the party. The party, anxious to avoid 
the circuitous route of the upper Arkansas, crossed that river at the 
place known as the Caches and took a south west course towards the 
Cimarron. Gregg says that being without water they were com- 
pelled to suck the blood of their dogs and mules, and that many of 
them had laid down to die, when some of the strongest of them hav- 
ing obtained water from the paunch of a slaughtered buffalo, suc- 
ceeded in reaching the river and bringing back a supply to their 
perishing comrades. Becknell does not mention the "water scrape" 
in his Journal (2 Missouri Historical Collections), but says that they 
reached St. Michael (San Miguel) in twenty two days from the 
Arkansas. 



176 [l822] 

hailing them, and encamped at night in a small grove 
in the edge of the prairie. We secured the horses 
and prepared our camp with care against an attack 
from Indians, who were evidently in our vicinity. 
One-half of our band slept while the rest stood as 
sentinels. In the morning about an hour before day 
a sound of violent crying and lamentation was heard, 
such as is customary with the Indians when bewail- 
ing the loss of a near relation. This is usually con- 
tinued from early dawn till sun-rise, when they end 
in a sobbing hiccough like that of children after 
long crying. A mounted Indian soon after daylight, 
circled around the camp and stopped at a distance 
of a quarter of a mile. I cried out Mawhatonga, 
(long knife). The Indian repeated the word inter- 
rogatively, Mawhatonga? The Indians call the 
whites Long-knives, from their swords. On my an- 
swering howai (yes), this Indian came into our 
camp and informed me that an Osage village 
was near by, and that Chouteau, ^° Tonish,^^ and 
Pelche,^^ French traders, were with them. I started 

1" For biographical sketch of Auguste Pierre Chouteau, see Appen- 
dix. 

^1 Tonish is Antoine de Hatre of Florissant. He was with Wash- 
ington Irving on his "Tour of the Prairies," and his grand-daughter, 
now living in Florissant, says that Mr. Irving did him "a great 
wrong" in writing about him as he did. Latrobe, who was Irving's 
companion on the "Tour," says of Tonish, — "Light, alive, in the 
prime of life, no horse could take him by surprise; no inclined plane 
could throw him off his balance. He was a man of no mean quali- 
fications, full of makeshifts, and unspeakably useful in the woods; 
they were his home." The Rambler in North America. His grand- 
father, Louis de Hetre, came to St. Louis from Cahokia in 1764. 

12 Pelche must be the same person whom Lieut. Abert calls "Pilka, 
an old voyageur." He says of him: "He was one of those hardy 
men who had become inured to all kinds of difficulty in the service 




^. ^. Jit^H?^m^ 



Courtesy of John F. McDermott. Esq. 



[l822] 177 

with the Indian for the village and came in view of it 
on ascending a hill a short way from the camp, where 
my companion went off at full speed, shouting at the 
top of his voice, and soon brought out the whole vil- 
lage with Chouteau and other French traders to 
meet me. A large company of Indians passed me 
to meet the company with the horses behind, and by 
their shouts and tumultuous riding gave my drove a 
stampede which made the earth shake beneath them. 
Chouteau invited me to breakfast with him, assur- 
ing me that my horses, which were now out of sight, 
would be recovered. I partook with him of a dish 
of coffee, the first I had tasted in twelve months, and 
of bread and other luxuries of civilization, which 
brought before my mind all the comforts of home 
to which I had been so long a stranger. After re- 
turning from Chouteau's marquee, about noon, we 
discovered that four horses and several articles be- 
longing to me and McKnight and a keg of Chou- 
teau's powder had been stolen by the Indians. Chou- 
teau raged and stormed like a mad man and threat- 
ened to abandon the nation forever and stop all the 
American trade with them, unless they produced the 

of the American Fur Company, and, having been often placed by 
necessity in emergencies which called forth all the resources of his 
ingenuity, had acquired a facility of doing well every thing that he 
undertook. Such men know the necessity of discipline ; and are ever 
ready in time of danger, and never allow their courage to be dam- 
pened, or their cheerfulness to be clouded by the difficulties with 
which they may be surrounded." Emory's Notes of a Military Re- 
connoissance from Fort Leavenixjorth, in Missouri, to San Diego, in 
California, p. 420. Though the identification is by no means cer- 
tain, this seems to have been Henry Pelky (or Peltier) of Florissant, 
who died there in September, 1847. 



lyS [1822] 

stolen articles and abstained from molesting the 
property of his friends. At last two of the horses 
were brought up. Chouteau commanded them to 
return the rest of the missing goods, which however, 
could not be found. The Conjuror now appeared 
with his wand lined with bells, which he carried 
jingling through the village. When he started, Chou- 
teau remarked that the lost goods would certainly 
be found by him; as the Indians had no hope of 
concealing any thing from their medicine man. The 
wand carried him directly towards the place of con- 
cealment, and the thieves to avoid detection soon 
brought up the goods which they had fortunately 
found. Two of my horses were lost beyond recov- 
ery. I remained with Chouteau that day till even- 
ing, and was treated by him and his French com- 
panions, like a brother. I saw a singular instance 
of Indian revenge, while here, which will illustrate 
their stern and inflexible sense of wrong. An old 
Osage was sitting on the ground when a younger 
Indian with a rope in hand stopped before him and 
said : "You struck me one blow, when I was a boy, 
I will now return it." The sitting Indian without a 
murmur bent his head and body forward to receive 
the justice which awaited him, while the avenger of 
youthful wrongs drew two large knots in his rope, 
and after swinging It around his head several times, 
brought it down with all his weight upon the back 
of his old enemy. The knots seemed to sink into 
his back their whole depth. Leaping up in a furious 
rage, the culprit rushed at the executioner, seized 



[l822] 179 

the rope and endeavored to wrest it from him, claim- 
ing one blow in return. As the pain subsided they 
became friends and thought no more of the old 
feud. "An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth," 
is strictly their motto. The blow which he had re- 
ceived when a boy, had rankled in this Indian's 
heart for ten or twenty years, and now having paid 
it back with interest, he was satisfied and happy. 
Their method of curing diseases is very similar to 
the operations of our animal magnetizers. The 
Conjuror or Medicine man has an old cloth, which 
they supposed possessed the charm and power to 
restore health. With this magic cloth assisted by 
other Indians in the same exercise, he rubs the pa- 
tient from head to foot, in a manner similar to the 
passes of the magnetizers, on their subjects. This 
is continued until the patient acknowledges himself 
relieved, or relief is proved to be hopeless. 

My company started forward before me, and I 
remained behind till evening with Cunigam, for the 
purpose of finding the two missing horses, which 
were among the best. Failing in this, I with my 
companion, followed in the track of the company. 
Before we had gone far a black cloud gathered over 
our heads, with thunder and lightning in terrific 
grandeur. We hastened forward till night, when 
the storm broke upon us in torrents of rain which 
deluged the earth. We lay in the rain all night, and 
in the morning the river had risen above the banks, 
and nearly reached our place of sleeping. The marks 
of the muddy water and leaves was visible in a 



i8o [1822] 

straight line on my companion as he lay asleep In a 
gully which the flood had washed without waking 
him. We saw, a little distance off, our company, 
encamped on the spot occupied by the Osages the 
night but one before. Pursuing our course down 
the river, we came to the Little Arkansas," which 
enters the main river from the north, and crossing 
It, we encamped on its bank which is here very high. 
The river rose twenty feet during the night from 
the heavy rains which had just fallen. Here we 
left the Arkansas, which goes to the south, after 
making what is called the great northern bend. We 
travelled to the north-east, the rain falling abund- 
antly, and came to a creek we were unable to cross. 
We encamped on its bank for that night, and the 
next morning before starting, some thirty Osages 
came up with some goods which they had stolen 
from a party of Santa Fe traders on the Arkansas 
above, and offered to us for sale. Our refusal to 
buy incensed them greatly, and they blustered and 
bullied around us until we showed them plainly how 
little we were affected by their bravado. One seized 
a belt of McKnight's, who wrenched it out of his 
hands and struck him with It a tremendous blow over 
the shoulder. After these Indians left us, we pur- 
sued our course on the trail of the Osages. The 
streams were all full and difficult in crossing, and the 
game exceedingly scarce. In ten or twelve days 

13 The Little Arkansas heads in Ellsworth County, Kansas, and 
flows into the Arkansas River where the city of Wichita now stands. 
It is about seventy five miles in length. 



[l822] l8l 

after severe suffering for want of food, we reached 
the Neosho or Grand River, where we found corn 
growing: this was just in the silk without any grain 
on the ear. We boiled and ate the cob with a 
hearty relish. Soon after this we were hailed by In- 
dians, who came from the north, and finding we were 
whites, approached us in a friendly manner and in- 
vited us to their village, two miles distant. They 
laughed at our last meal and promised us something 
better than corn cobs. We fared well, with them, 
on hominy, meat and bread, which last was made of 
flour furnished to them by Mr. Sibley,^* the factor at 
Fiery-Prairie Fort.^^ After smoking with these 
friendly Osages, we proceeded on our way, and with 

1* George Champlain Sibley, explorer, b. in Great Barrington, 
Mass., in April, 1782; d. in Elma, St. Charles co.. Mo., 31 Jan., 1863. 
He was the son of John Sibley, a surgeon in the Revolutionary 
army, and of a daughter of Samuel Hopkins, of Newport, and was 
brought up in North Carolina. He went to St. Louis, Mo., during 
Jefferson's administration as an employe of the Indian bureau, and 
was subsequently sent among the Indians as an agent of the gov- 
ernment. Escorted by a band of Osage warriors, he explored the 
Grand Saline and Salt mountain, publishing an account of the ex- 
pedition. After retiring from the Indian department, he was ap- 
pointed a commissioner to survey a road from Missouri to New 
Mexico, and made several treaties with Indian tribes. He and his 
wife, Mary Easton, were the founders of Lindenwood college, St. 
Charles, Mo., giving the land on which it is built. He was inter- 
ested in the scheme of African colonization and other philanthropic 
objects. (From Appletons' Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Vol. 
5, p. 520.) The Missouri Historical Society has a large collection of 
Sibley's letters and papers. 

15 "Fiery Prairie Fort," was Fort Osage which was situated on the 
south side of the Missouri River in what is now Jackson County, 
Missouri, on the site of the present village of Sibley. Fort Osage 
was established by the U. S. Government in 1808, and was often 
called Fort Clark. For an account of it, see 3 Houck's History of 
Missouri, 147-9. Fire Prairie was near by, and took its name from 
the circumstance of some Indians having there lost their lives from 
the sudden conflagration of the dry prairie grass. ' 



i82 [1822] 

great difficulty crossed the Neosho, which flowed 
with the rapidity of a mill race. I hired some In- 
dians to swim our horses and goods tied up in buf- 
falo skins, across, while we followed, some swim- 
ming and others in skin boats towed by men and 
women in the water. I was ferried over by two 
women and a man, the former swimming with cords 
between their teeth attached to the boat, and the lat- 
ter pushing behind, by which means I was safely 
landed on the shore. Here I found a new party of 
Indians, who while our party was crossing the river 
had stolen three of my horses. Continuing our 
course we crossed a creek on a raft near the White- 
haired village, ^"^ which was deserted, and in the eve- 
ning of the third day after passing the Neosho, we 
crossed the Missouri line. Here my brother ex- 
claimed, — "Thank God we are once more in the 
United States." We encamped for the night, and 
lay down in fancied security, without setting a guard, 

16 White Hair's village was on the Neosho River near the north- 
east corner of Labette County, Kansas. "Naniompa (the village of 
the pipe), so named because of a black stone in the neighborhood 
out of which calumets are made, consists of forty five to fifty 
lodges. Its chief is the old White Hair, uncle of the present grand 
chief" (Tixier). Flint {Ten Years in the Valley of the Mississippi) 
tells an interesting story of White Hair's presence at a dinner in St. 
Louis, and how he acquired the name of Pawhuska, or White Hair. 
"He was supposed to have derived his appelation of White Hair 
from a grey wig or scratch, which he had taken from the head of 
an American at the disastrous defeat of General St. Clair. He had 
grasped at the wig's tail in the melee of the battle, supposing it the 
man's hair, and that he should have him by that hold. The owner 
fled, and the scratch to his astonishment remained in his hand. It 
instantly became in his mind a charmed thing, a grand medicine. 
Supposing that in a like case it would always effect a like deliver- 
ance, he afterwards wore it, as a charmed thing rudely fastened to 
his scalp." White Hair died in Vernon County, Missouri, in the 



[l822] 183 

and in the morning discovered that a large number 
of the horses and mules had been stolen. We had 
not seen any Indians for three days, but had been 
followed by the prowling Osages, who had now ef- 
fected their designs upon us. Thirty-eight of my 
best horses and mules were missing. We followed 
the thieves to the White-haired village, and found 
that they had crossed the creek on our rafts and 
were now beyond all pursuit. We returned and pro- 
ceeded on with the remains of my drove. Our next 
stopping place was Chouteau's trading house" on 
the north side of the Osage river, about six miles 
from our last, where we found a hospitable reception 
from the French traders. McKnight and I went to 
the factory or Government store a few miles above 
on the river, where we saw a few Indians, the factor, 
and an interpreter, who advised me to go, or send 
some persons back to Grand River for my horses 
where they would probably be found. I hired him 
and an Indian, for forty dollars, to return with one 
of my men to recover the stolen property. In a few 
days they came back with the news that the thieves 
had hastened on towards Clermont's village^® on the 

latter part of 1825, and was buried on the Blue Mound. The white 
human wolves in the neighborhood broke into his tomb and carried 
off his bones, thinking, perhaps, that the association might make 
men of them. 

^'^ This was Pierre Chouteau's trading house, the business of which 
was for many years under the management of Pierre Mellicourt 
Papin, for whom Papinsville, in Bates County, Missouri, was named. 
The trading post was situated near that place. 

18 The rivalry of Lisa and the Chouteaus for the trade of the 
Osages caused a separation in the nation about 1802, and a party 
headed by Clermont {Manka-Chonkeh or le Chien Noir) went south- 



i84 [1822] 

Arkansas, where they had probably concealed my 
chattels. Giving them up for lost, I returned to 
Chouteau's establishment and endeavored to obtain 
a skiff for descending the river. Most of my remain- 
ing horses were sore on the back or jaded so much 
as to be unable to carry any burdens. We learned 
from a blacksmith that there was a missionary sta- 
tion on the river a few miles above, where a good 
skiff which he had made, could be procured. The 
two McKnights, the blacksmith, and myself, went up 
to the station, where we found a small village of 
about fifty inhabitants, old and young, and a dozen 
houses. ^^ A fine water mill was going up on the 

ward and established two villages, one known as la Cheniere (the 
Oaks) and the other as Grosse-Cote (Big hill). Clermont was 
probably a chief of Chouteau's making, though he claimed that he 
was so by hereditary right and that White Hair was a usurper. 
Clermont was said to possess four wives and thirty seven children. 
See Nuttall, p. 237. Governor Clark writes to Secretary Calhoun, 
Oct., 18 1 8, that the Osages have determined to unite themselves in 
one village. 

19 "Great Osage Mission ; situated on the north bank of the Marais 
de Cygne, about 6 miles above its entrance into the Osage River, 
and about 80 miles southwest of Fort Osage. Rev. Nathaniel B. 
Dodge, Rev. Benton Pixley, and Rev. Wm. B. Montgomery, Mis- 
sionaries; Wm. N. Belcher, Physician and Surgeon; and Messrs. 
Daniel H. Austin, Samuel Newton, Samuel B. Bright, Otis Sprague, 
and Amasa Jones, Assistant Missionaries. At this station there is 
a School of fifteen Indian children, living in the family." {Missouri 
Intelligencer, 27 March, 1824, from the Amercian Missionary Reg- 
ister, January, 1824). This mission was usually called Harmony 
Mission, and was situated in Bates County, Missouri. For a de- 
scription of it, see i Houck's History of Missouri, pp. 197-9. 

Harmony Mission was visited by Irving and Latrobe in the au- 
tumn of 1832, and the latter in his book. The Rambler in North 
America, says, — '"As to the Missionaries on this frontier, my general 
impression was, that they were worthy men ; rather upright than 
sound in their views for the civilization and moral improvement of 
the tribes among whom they were sent to labor; and, like many of 
their brethren all over the world, far too weak handed and deficient 



[i822] i8s 

opposite or south side of the river. We found the 
owners of the skiff, related to them our wants and 
misfortunes, and requested the privilege of buying 
their skiff. They doubted if they could spare the 
skiff. We went down to the river and examined the 
subject of our negotiation, which was a rough made 
article, of the value in St. Louis of about three dol- 
lars. "We have no stuff to make another with, 
should we let this go," said one of the missionaries. 
"I have some plank," said the blacksmith, "the same 
as this was made of, that you may have to make an- 
other if you wish it. These men," continued he, 
"have been very unfortunate, and by letting them 
have the skiff you will do an act of charity. They 
can't travel without it," and I told them I would 
give any reasonable price for the accommodation. 
"Well, said the missionary, what would you be will- 
ing to give?" "Ten dollars." "Ho, ho!— I 
couldn't take that for the skiff, even if I could spare 
it. But we can't let it go, we want it for crossing 
the river to the mill. I v(e)ow and declare I can't 
spare it." "I will give you fifteen dollars," said I. 
"Oh no," whined the philanthropist, "we couldn't 
take that little, and besides I have no nails to make 
another with." "I will make nails for you said the 
blacksmith; that need not be in your way," and 
again the benevolent trader was headed. "But I 

in worldly wisdom to cope effectually with the difficulties thrown in 
their way by the straggling but powerful community of traders, 
agents and adventurers of every kind, with whom they must be as- 
sociated in their intercourse with the Indians." 



i86 [1822] 

v(e)ow I don't know how to spare It," said he. I 
then offered twenty dollars in specie. "Oh no," said 
the missionary, "the skiff is worth more than that, 
but I don't think we can spare It;" and here the 
negotiation ended, my companions protesting that I 
had offered too much already. We went up to the 
village where they had three half-breed children un- 
der instruction, and these were all their pupils or 
converts whom they were paid by the Government 
to instruct — truly a disinterested company of men. 
Learning that we had arrived from Mexico, a num- 
ber of them gathered around us with many questions 
concerning that country, and one asked If they were 
not in need of missionaries In that country, and 
whether much good could not be done and many 
converts made there. Robert McKnight replied, 
"they would convert you Into the calaboose d — nd 
quick, if you were to go among them — you had bet- 
ter stay here." We left then, shaking the dust of 
the town from our feet and glad to get rid of the 
canting sharpers. We returned to the trading post, 
made a few bark canoes, and proceeded down the 
river; part of our company being in the canoes and 
the rest afoot with the horses and goods. At the 
mouth of the Osage, Rogers, the ferryman, informed 
us that at the village of Cote Sans Desans, on the 
opposite side of the Missouri, I could procure some 
perogues of the French Inhabitants there. I crossed 
over to the village and purchased a canoe and pe- 
rogue for sixteen dollars — loaded them with goods, 
and with the McKnights I hastened forward to St. 
Louis. The rest of my company with the horses, 



[l822] 187 

joined me soon afterwards. I here heard that Glenn 
had sold out his fur and gone to Cincinnati. As I 
remarked before, he has been among the missing to 
me ever since. His note I will sell for one per cent, 
on the principal. 

I learned on the morning of my arrival at St. 
Louis, that Col. Graham,'" the Indian Agent, had 
just started for the Osage country, to pay out an- 
nuities to the Osages. The two McKnights pur- 
sued and overtook him — gave him a written state- 
ment of my losses by that tribe, and claimed compen- 
sation, which he undertook to get for me. The 
Osages delivered up twenty-seven of my horses and 
mules, and said that these were all they had taken. 
The agent took their words for the fact against the 
written and sworn statements of the McKnights, 
which could have been corroborated by the oaths of 
my whole company, and neglected to retain the 
amount of what they had cost me in Santa Fe, which 

'*> Richard Graham was the son of Richard Graham, a Scotchman, 
who settled in Virginia in 1775, and there married, in 1776, Jane 
Brent. Richard Graham, the son, was born at Dumfries, Prince 
William County, 16 March, 1780. He was educated at the Catholic 
College at Georgetown. After leaving college he went to Kentucky, 
where he married Miss Fox. Of this marriage there were two sons, 
one of whom died early, the other entered the navy and died in the 
service. This son — John Graham — married Miss Sarah Selden of 
Virginia, daughter of Col. Selden U. S. A., and their daughter 
Fanny married the late Judge John Wickham of St. Louis. 

Richard Graham entered the U. S. Army as Captain of the 19th 
infantry, and was promoted to be Major and was aide de camp to 
Gen. Harrison. After the war of 1812 he resigned, and received the 
appointment of Indian Agent with headquarters at St. Louis. His 
first wife having died he married, in 1825, Miss Catherine Mullan- 
phy, daughter of John Mullanphy of St. Louis. By this marriage 
he had four children — George, Thomas Biddle, Jane Brent, and Lily. 
The latter married Daniel M. Frost. Major Graham bought the 
property near Florissant known as Hazelwood, and died there 27 
July, 1857. 



i88 [1822] 

was forty dollars each, out of the annuities of the 
Osages, which were then paid in money. He brought 
on the twenty-seven, which he recovered, as far as 
the Osage River in Missouri, where he left them, at 
the house of a man named Rogers, who wrote to in- 
form me in the winter following that they were dying 
with hunger. Col. Graham turned them out to go 
at large, and when two men whom I sent for them, 
arrived, only sixteen could be found. Four mules 
which were unable to travel were left, and only 
twelve horses and mules were brought back; to re- 
cover which I expended much more than their value. 
The agent, Col. Graham, was greatly culpable in 
not retaining the whole value of the horses stolen, 
out of the annuities of the Osages. The claim was 
proved and might and ought to have been secured 
by him. 

In the latter part of July, 1822, I arrived at my 
home in Monroe County, Illinois, after an absence 
of fifteen months. I was supposed to be dead by 
many, and my family were entertaining the most 
alarming apprehensions for me. The husband and 
the father only, can appreciate the joy and rejoicing 
which my coming occasioned, and the cordial wel- 
come I received. After the hardships, exposures 
and wearing anxieties which I had endured for more 
than a year, I needed repose and relaxation, and I 
hoped to enjoy them for a short time. But in this 
hope I was disappointed. My creditors swarmed 
around me like bees, and were as clamorous as a 
drove of hungry wolves. I had brought from Santa 
Fe about $2500, the sole proceeds of my stock of 



[l822] 189 

$12,000, with which I had left St. Louis the year 
before. This sum I immediately paid on my debts, 
and offered all my remaining property to my cred- 
itors; but they wanted money. The Sheriff, the Mar- 
shal and the Constables immediately beset me on 
every side, and seized and sold almost everything 
of mine that was levyable. I worked and struggled 
bravely to emerge from this thick cloud of difficul- 
ties. I drove a mill and distillery, and fattened a 
drove of hogs for which I could find no sale. The 
way was dark before me and I found more real 
trouble and corroding care in getting out of debt 
than I had experienced among the savages. Man in 
civilized society frequently requires more firmness of 
mind, constancy, fortitude, and real strength of char- 
acter than in the most critical and dangerous crisis 
of a savage state. The poor man, struggling bravely 
against an accumulation of debt and difficulty, I have 
always thought, is entitled to more respect than the 
military chieftain, whose courage is only inflamed 
by the excitements of war and ambition. Peace has 
its victories as well as war, and a high state of 
civilization as it has stronger temptations to evil and 
higher though less pressing incitements to exertion, 
so it requires more energy and determined resolution 
of mind than any other condition of human exist- 
ence. Many a brave and true man in the peaceful 
shades of private life will receive a meed of honor 
equal to that of 

"Great men battling with the storms of fate 
And greatly falling with a falling State." 



CHAPTER SIX 

Endeavors to Get Out of Debt — Proposition of John McKnight — 
Preparations for Another Expedition — Journey to the Arkansas 
— Ascent of the Canadian and North Fork — Hunting Bears, 
Elks, Etc. — Fort Commenced — Conversation With McKnight, 
and His Departure in Search of Camanches — Continued As- 
cent of the Canadian North Fork — A New Fort — Return of 
Potter and Ivy — Robert McKnight Goes Out In Search of His 
Brother — He Returns With Indians — Charges Them With the 
Murder of His Brother — I go out to the Camanche Village — In- 
cidents There— A Council— The One-Eyed Chief— The Whole 
Band Starts for the Fort — A Guard Placed Over Me — Encamp- 
ment — The One Eyed Adopts Me as His Brother — He Changes 
My Relations With His Tribes — Catching Wild Horses — Ar- 
rival at the Fort — Fright of Some "Brave" Men — Trade — A 
Robbery — The One Eyed Punishes the Thieves — Fate of John 
McKnight — Mourning Stopped — Indian Customs — A Dance — A 
Case of Arbitration by the One Eyed — Indian Horsemanship — 
Parting With the Chiefs — Conversation With Alsarea — ^The 
Horse Checoba — A Bucephalus. 

SEEING no way of extricating myself from 
debt by any regular employment at home, I 
cast about for some other means of self preserva- 
tion. John McKnight, who was to me a true and 
faithful friend, went to the mines^ to obtain for me 
a lucrative situation, but without success. He then 
proposed to make another venture among the Ca- 
manches, and endeavor to obtain from them the ful- 
filment of Cordaro's promise to remunerate my 
losses among his countrymen. McKnight was san- 

1 The mines here referred to are in Washington County, Missouri, 
and are described by Schoolcraft in his Fieivs of the Lead Mines of 
Missouri, 1819. 

190 



[1822-1823] 191 

gulne of success, and I fell in with his proposal. We 
procured goods in St. Louis, on credit, to the value 
of $5500, shipped them on a keel boat, and the two 
McKnights, John and Robert, with eight men, 
started with them in the fall of 1822 for the mouth 
of the Canadian, where I was to meet them in the 
winter following. I went by land to the place of 
rendezvous, with a company of twelve men, through 
the towns of Batesville^ (now Fredericktown) , St. 
Francisville,^ and the Cherokee country, and joined 
McKnight in the latter part of February. We had 
five horses with packs and travelled the whole route 
afoot. McKnight had awaited us about six weeks. 
We found him with the boat frozen up, about four 
miles above the Canadian, on the north side of the 
Arkansas and about thirty miles below Barbour's 
trading house. On going up to Barbour's Mc- 
Knight and I found that he had secured the goods 
which we had cached on the island above in my for- 
mer trip; but that the flour was damaged when he 
took it down to his house. He was just starting, 
when we arrived, for New Orleans, with furs and 
peltry on my keel-boat, which I had left with him 

2 Batesville was named for Frederick Bates, Territorial Secretary 
and, frequently, acting governor of the Louisiana and Missouri Ter- 
ritory, and governor of the State of Missouri. A tov^n in what is 
now Arkansas being given the same name at about the same time 
(in honor of James Woodson Bates), the name of this place was 
changed to Fredericktown. Its site adjoined the old French settle- 
ment of St. Michel's, which it later absorbed. 

3 There is no record of any town in this part of the State 
named St. Francisville. The place referred to by James was the 
settlement in the neighborhood of St. Frangois church, which was 
near the site of the present town of Greenville in Wayne County. 



192 [1823] 

the year before, and he promised to pay me, on his 
return, for the boat and goods. I never saw him 
again. He died on this trip in New Orleans. The 
ice being now gone, and our boat released, we pre- 
pared for ascending the Canadian. Robert Mc- 
Knight with most of the men, descended the Arkan- 
sas with the boat, to enter the Canadian four miles 
below, while John, who was seldom separated from 
me, with the horses and a few men crossed the point 
and awaited them. After joining them we travelled 
in sight of the boat till we passed the falls about 
twenty-five miles from the mouth, when we struck 
into the best farming country I had ever seen: a 
beautiful land of prairies and woods in fine propor- 
tion. Below the falls we passed a very salt spring. 
Elk, buffalo, deer, wild turkeys and black bears were 
very abundant, and we fared on the fat of the land. 
The soil is extremely fertile, judging from the heavy 
grass of the prairies and the large and valuable tim- 
ber of the woods, which were composed of walnut, 
ash, hackberry, spice, pawpaw, and oaks of a very 
heavy growth and of every species. The Canadian 
is very crooked and bounded by extensive bottoms. 
After travelling five days through this fine region, 
we struck the North Fork of the Canadian at its 
mouth. This river, like the other, is exceedingly 
crooked, and numerous rapids greatly obstruct its 
navigation. Our ascent was slow and difl^cult, and 
the boat twice stopped at night within a hundred 
yards of our encampment of the night before, owing 
to the irregular course of the stream. Our progress 



[1823] 193 

in the boat was at length stopped entirely by a rapid 
which we could not ascend. We made fast the boat 
to trees with strong ropes, put our bear and deer 
skins into it, and buried the heaviest hardware in the 
ground, where it remains probably to this day, as I 
never returned to its place of concealment. We made 
three perogues, into which we put our remaining 
goods except such as could be packed on the horses, 
and with them, we continued our ascent of the Ca- 
nadian North Fork. Game of every kind known to 
the country was extremely plenty. We killed on this 
and the main river about twenty black bears, all of 
which we found in the hollow of trees where they 
had remained in a torpid state all winter. In one 
tree four were found, a she and three yearling cubs, 
which the men killed with axes, after felling the 
tree and stopping up the top to prevent their escape. 
After proceeding with our perogues about ten days 
the game became scarce and the company began to 
suffer from want of food. We stopped and all sal- 
lied out to hunt: the first day furnished but one 
wild turkey. The second and third days produced 
nothing more, the turkey subsisting us all for three 
days. John McKnight and I then went about ten 
miles in search of game, and found a bear's track, 
but our pursuit of the bear was unsuccessful. Re- 
turning by a different route from that by which we 
came, we described a herd of elk, lying down in the 
prairie. We crept on our hands and knees in the 
short grass to within two hundred yards of them, 
when one discovered us, leaped up, snorted and 



194 [1823] 

brought the rest to their feet. I instantly fired and 
wounded one, which we found and killed, and re- 
turned with a part of the meat to our companions, 
who were feasting on a wild horse. In the morn- 
ing after bringing in the remainder of my elk, we 
pursued our journey and in a few days the game, be- 
came plentiful. We had hitherto travelled through 
a very fertile and beautiful country, which will in a 
few years teem with a dense population. The prairies 
are interspersed with valuable woodland, and will 
make as fine a farming country as any in the Union. 
We now reached the vast and sterile prairie west of 
the Cross-Timbers,* through the northern end of 
which we had passed, and we commenced our jour- 
ney over the boundless plains beyond them. This 
is the region designated on the maps as the Great 
American Desert, though it is very different from 

* The Cross Timbers. "The immense western prairies are bor- 
dered for hundreds of miles on their eastern side by a narrow belt 
of forest land well known to hunters and trappers under the above 
name. The course of this range is nearly north and south, with a 
width ranging from thirty to fifty miles. The growth of the timber 
is principally small, gnarled post oaks and black jacks; and in many 
places the traveller will find an almost impenetrable undergrowth 
of brier and other thorny bushes. Here and there he will also find 
a small valley where the timber is large and the land rich and fer- 
tile, and occasionally a small prairie intervenes; but the general 
face of the country is broken and hilly, and the soil thin. On the 
eastern side of the cross timbers the country is varied by small 
prairies and clumps of woodland, while on the western all is a per- 
fect ocean of prairie. The belt, therefore, for whatever purpose it 
may have been fashioned by the Great Creator of all things, ap- 
pears to be an immense natural hedge dividing the woodlands of the 
settled portions of the United States from the open prairies which 
have ever been the home and hunting ground of the red man." 
Kendall, Narrative of the Texan Santa Fe Expedition, Vol. i, p. no. 
The cross timbers extended from about latitude 36° 30' to 33° 30'. 
See map in Gregg's Commerce of the Prairies, Vol. i. 



[1823] 195 

those plains of sand in the Old World which bear 
that name. A short grass grows here, but no tim- 
ber except the cotton-wood and willows in the bends 
of the rivers. Our path had before lain through 
fine groves of oak, walnut, and ash as we issued 
from one prairie and entered another, but now one 
vast plain extending on all sides to the horizon, pre- 
sented no object to relieve the vision. 

We soon discovered trails of Indians and came 
upon a deserted camp of what seemed a Camanche 
war party about five hundred strong. As we pro- 
ceeded, the Indian "sign" increased. We next 
struck an Osage camp, also deserted, which seemed 
to have been made a few weeks before by a war 
party or a horse stealing party of Osages on their 
route northward from a plundering expedition 
against the Camanches. The country, as we pro- 
ceeded, became more and more sterile, the grass 
shorter and the timber on the river banks smaller 
and more scarce than before. Travelling on, 
through a country nearly destitute of vegetation, in 
about ten days after passing the Osage camp, we 
arrived at the place of encampment of an immense 
Indian force in the summer previous, as we judged 
from the signs on the ground. The river had now 
become too shallow to be navigated any further 
without great difficulty, even by perogues. Here we 
stopped and commenced the building of a Fort. One 
of the men, now a near neighbor of mine, Justus 
Varnum,*^ had taken a cold, so severe that it affected 

*a^ In August, 1825, Justus Varnum was indicted in Monroe 
County, Illinois, for challenging Isaac Clark to fight a duel. Bad 



196 [1823] 

his hip and back and prevented him from walking. 
He was conveyed up the river in a perogue for sev- 
eral weeks previous to our stopping, and he had to 
be carried every night in a blanket from the boat 
to the fires of the camp, and back again to the boats 
in the morning. One of the men, when we had 
stopped to build a Fort, killed a large rattlesnake 
with the entire bodies of two prairie dogs, larger 
than squirrels, contained within the stomach of his 
snakeship. I advised Varnum to try out the oil of 
the snake and rub it on his joints as a remedy. He 
applied the oil as I recommended, and in conse- 
quence became so limber and supple as to render 
walking painful to him, when I told him to stop the 
applications. I have frequently tried the same rem- 
edy for stiffness of the joints and think it might be 
of service in rheumatism. 

The Fort being nearly completed, I proposed to 
go out with two men and find the Camanches, in 
whose country we then were, and who, we supposed 
from the "signs" around us, could not be very dis- 
tant. John McKnight objected to my going out, 
saying that he or I must remain with the men and 
superintend the building of the Fort, as his brother 
Robert could not govern the company. "You, 
James," said he, "have a family. I have none, and 
therefore I can better afford to lose my life than 

blood, caused by a law suit about the right to some property was 
the cause. After some time the case against Varnum was dismissed 
without a trial. There were several persons of the name of Varnum 
in the county. 



[1823] 197 

you. As we cannot, both of us go, you must re- 
main." At his urgent soHcitation, I acquiesced, 
though unwiUingly, in this arrangement, and agreed 
with him in the event of the river's rising before we 
finished the Fort,^ to put the goods in the perogues, 
and ascend the stream a hundred miles, after leaving 
a letter for him in a certain part of the Fort. I 
wished to get into the heart of the Camanche country 
with my goods, where I would sooner be able to 
open a trade with the nation. McKnight departed 
according to our arrangement towards the South, in 
company with Potter, Ivy and Clark, the last of 
whom was an obstinate, disaffected man, and went 
against the desire of McKnight. He, poor fellow, 
never returned. He found a soldier's death and a 
brave man's grave from the hands of the Camanche 
warriors. He was my friend — faithful and true to 
me — and I mourned his loss as that of one whose 
place could never be supplied to me or to society. 
I learned soon after this, the probable circumstances 
attending his death. A few days after McKnight 
left us, a heavy rain fell, causing the river to rise, 
and we thereupon abandoned the Fort about half 
completed, and with our perogues and goods as- 
cended about the distance agreed upon, where the 
low water stopped our further progress. We en- 
camped and commenced a Fort in an excellent posi- 
tion where the timber was abundant. We proceeded 

^ James' Fort was in what is now Blaine County, Oklahoma. For 
mention of it by Gregg, see 2 Commerce of the Prairies, p. 24. Gregg 
gave the place the name Spring Valley. 



198 [1823] 

in building the Fort as expeditiously as possible, and 
with great labor soon completed it and a trading 
house, surrounded by stocl^ades and defended by our 
swivel, which we mounted on wheels in an angle of 
the Fort. Before this, however. Potter and Ivy re- 
turned with the news that on the ninth day after 
their departure they fell in with Camanches and 
were conducted to one of their principal villages, 
(the bands in camp are called by that name), and 
that McKnight called a counsel with their Chiefs, 
but could not, for want of an interpreter, make him- 
self well understood : Potter knowing less of the lan- 
guage than was supposed. McKnight then gave 
them to understand that he had a good interpreter 
in Spanish, referring to his brother Robert, and re- 
quested leave to return to us for him, in company 
with one man. The Indians permitted him to start 
alone and kept the remaining three as hostages. They 
gave him five days for his journey to our camp and 
back to them, and he left them with the promise to 
return on the fifth day. After his departure, Clark 
made known to them by signs that McKnight's com- 
pany had many guns and a cannon. This excited 
their fears and they gave evident symptoms of 
alarm. On the same day a party of Indians came 
in, as from a hunt, and the Americans were told that 
two Camanches of their village had just been killed 
by Osages. The whole army then decamped and re- 
moved fifteen miles further south. The three pris- 
oners heard moaning and lamentation for the de- 
ceased in two lodges, during the whole night. For 



[1823] 199 

seven days they were kept awaiting McKnIght, when 
the Indians upbraided them with his failure and pre- 
tended treachery, but permitted Potter and Ivy to 
go out for the Spanish interpreter. They came in 
much surprised that McKnight had not appeared. 
I instantly conjectured his fate. A man sent by me 
down to the unfinished Fort, returned with the in- 
formation that the letter I had left, was still there. 
Robert McKnight returned with Potter and Ivy to 
the Camanche village, and here he charged the In- 
dians with the murder of his brother. His conduct 
among them was like a mad man's, storming and 
raging with no regard to consequences. At length 
they were persuaded, on the assurance that I was at 
the Fort, to send out forty mounted warriors, with 
McKnight, while the rest remained as hostages. On 
the third day after Robert McKnight went out, I 
saw an Indian on a mound, surveying our encamp- 
ment. I hoisted the flag and fired the swivel, when 
he was soon joined by others, all splendidly mounted 
on the best of horses, and I noticed Robert Mc- 
Knight on a mule in their midst, and guarded. They 
stopped on the hill as if waiting for a parley with 
us, and I took my pistols, placed a plume in my hat, 
and went out to them. McKnight pointed me to 
their Chief, who was a Towash,^ and whom I in- 

6 Towash (Ta-we-hash), a principal tribe of the Wichita Confed- 
eracy were of Caddoan stock, and of the same blood as the Paw- 
nees. The French called them Pani Picque (tatooed Pawnees), and 
Black Pawnees. The Towashes, at the time of James' expedition, 
lived in northern Texas and southern Oklahoma, in the neighbor- 
hood of the junction of the Red and Wichita rivers. They were a 
sedentary and agricultural people, but at times yielded to the temp- 



200 



[i823] 



vlted into the Fort. He advanced with his band 
very cautiously and when within two hundred yards 
of the Fort ahghted and walked around to the river 
bank, looking for some traces of the Osages. Find- 
ing none, but still suspicious, he entered the Fort 
and examined every nook and corner of it, and then 
looked at my goods. He appeared satisfied and 
called to his company, who rode up ; but before they 
would enter the Fort they searched up and down the 
river bank for vestiges of their enemies. I enter- 
tained them with boiled buffalo meat, and while they 
were eating I enquired of McKnight if Big Star was 
at the village. He said no, and that these were an- 
other tribe whom I had not seen before. I re- 
marked to him that I recognized one Indian among 
them, whom I had certainly seen before, and had 
endeavored to hire as an interpreter, at the village 
where we were robbed in my former trip. His name 
said I is Whon (from the Spanish John [Juan] ) . As 
I mentioned his name the Indian raised his head, 
looked at me and instantly cast his eyes on the 
ground. The Chief asked the interpreter what I 
said, and on hearing it, asked me where I had seen 
Whon. When I had told him of our former ac- 
quaintance, he and Whon conversed together a mo- 
ment, when Whon arose and threw his arms around 

tation to follow the buffalo. The only member of the tribe recorded 
in St. Louis was a woman by the name of Careche-Caranche whom 
Jean Marie Cardinal (for whom Cardinal Avenue is named) brought 
home with him, and to whom he was married at the old Cathedral 
30 May, 1776; their eight children were baptised on the same day. 
Descendants of this couple are still living in Missouri. 



[1823] 20I 

my neck and asked in Spanish how I had been. Mc- 
Knight asked why he had not spoken to him in 
Spanish as he spoke it so well. He said he had 
come to see if I was really the man spoken of by 
John McKnight and that he had been commanded 
not to speak Spanish or let us know who he was. 
John McKnight had told them as plainly as he could 
by Potter, that I had visited their country the year 
before, and had now returned because I had prom- 
ised Cordaro that I would do so, for the purpose of 
trading with them. The Chief now told me that 
the nation would not come to the Fort to trade, on 
account of the Osages, and I agreed to go with them 
in the morning with goods to their village. Mc- 
Knight proposed in the night to put all the goods 
into the boats and escape down the river, as they had 
undoubtedly killed his brother and might do the same 
deed upon us all. He was an impulsive, passionate 
man, with but httle cool reflection. His courage in 
the midst of danger was of the highest order and 
perfectly unyielding, but he was unfit for a leader or 
guide in critical situations, requiring coolness and 
presence of mind. I refused to attempt an escape 
as utterly impracticable, and the height of injustice 
to the men who were in custody with the Camanches. 
In the morning I started alone with four mules 
loaded with goods and escorted by the Indians under 
Alsarea, for the village, where we arrived in the 
evening and were met by the head Chief about two 
miles from the town. He appeared friendly and 
took the goods and deposited them in his lodge. Pot- 



202 [1823] 

ter and the other hostages were all in safety and 
had been well treated. They informed me that my 
old and formidable enemy the One-Eyed Chief was 
in the village. On the next morning, I prepared for 
trading by making presents according to custom, of 
knives, tobacco, cloths for breech garments, &c., 
which, though a large heap when together, made a 
small appearance when divided among all this band. 
The trade then began. They claimed twelve articles 
for a horse. I made four yards of British strouding 
at $5.50 per yard and two yards of calico at 62^4 
cents to count three, and a knife, flint, tobacco, look- 
ing-glass, and other small articles made up the com- 
plement. They brought to me some horses for 
which I refused the stipulated price. They then 
produced others, which were really fine animals, 
worth at least $100 each in St. Louis. I bought 
seventeen of these, but would not take any more at 
the same price, the rest being inferior. The refusal 
enraged the Chief, who said I must buy them, and 
on my persisting in my course, drove away the In- 
dians from around me, and left me alone. After a 
short time he returned with a request that I should 
buy some buffalo and beaver skins, to which I ac- 
ceded. He went away and the woman soon returned 
with the fur and skins, of which I bought a much 
larger quantity than I wished then to have on my 
hands. The Chief again came up and drove away 
all my women customers, and I was again left alone 
with the three who had come with McKnight. No 
Indian came near me for the rest of the day, and I 



[1823] 203 

sauntered around the village and amused myself as 
well as I could till night-fall. During this time and 
most of the night before, I had heard moaning, la- 
mentations and weeping from two lodges in the out- 
skirts of the village, on account of the two Indians, 
killed, their countrymen said, by Osages, but who 
undoubtedly met their death from the hands of 
John McKnight, fighting desperately in his own de- 
fence. In the evening the old Chief in whose lodge 
I staid, entered my tent with five old Indians, and 
all with a grave and solemn air sat themselves down 
in silence. The Chief, who was a little, low flat 
headed and simple looking old man, soon arose, took 
a pipe which he filled with tobacco and presented it 
to each of his companions in succession. He passed 
me by unnoticed and all regarded me with lowering 
brows. This I knew portended evil, and I feared 
the worst. After they had all smoked, the Chief 
made them a speech in Camanche, which I knew 
nothing of, and then turned to me and spoke in 
Spanish fluently. I understood perfectly, every 
word he uttered and heard him with intense interest. 
He asked when I was going away. I replied that I 
was an American and had come from my own coun- 
try, a great distance, to trade with his people, be- 
cause I had promised the Chief Cordaro the year 
before that I would come; that I had done accord- 
ing to my promise and brought them guns, powder, 
knives, tomahawks, and other things which I knew 
his people wanted. The Chief replied that they did 
not want to trade, but wished me to go immediately 



204 [1823] 

out of their country. "We are going to the Nacha- 
toshauwa (Red River), and you must leave us." I 
offered to accompany them. "No, no, said he, our 
meat is scarce, the game is scarce ; you must not go ; 
away! away! (waving his hand) go out of our coun- 
try." I felt that my fate and that of my men rested 
with this council, and that as they arose friendly or 
hostile, should we live or die the death of John Mc- 
Knight. This old Chief evidently wished me to 
start on my way back to the Fort, and intended then 
to pursue me with his warriors and make my scalp 
and goods the prizes of the race or the spoil of the 
battle. I concealed all alarm in my demeanor, and 
reaching back as I sat to a tobacco keg, I broke off 
twelve plugs, and took out of a box six wampums, 
which are strings of long beads, variously colored, 
and greatly prized by the Indians. I then took out 
my calama or Indian pipe, and slowly filled it with 
tobacco, saying in an under tone and a musing man- 
ner, as if speaking to myself as much as to them, I 
shall have to go back to my own country after com- 
ing all this distance to trade with my red brethren, 
and when I tell the people of my nation how our red 
brothers have treated me, they will never come into 
this country. I have brought every thing that my red 
brothers want for war or for peace, guns and pow- 
der and ball, and clothes for their women, and now 
they are driving me out of their country like a spy 
or a thief, instead of a friend and brother as I am. 
When I had lighted the pipe, I presented it with one 
hand and the two plugs of tobacco and a wampum 



[1823] 205 

with the other, to the Chief, saying to him, this is 
better than you can get from the Spaniards. I well 
knew the sacredness of this offer, and that the In- 
dian dare not offend the Great Spirit by refusing a 
present of tobacco and wampum, even from his bit- 
terest enemy. The Chief hesitated long, but at last 
slowly raised his hand, took my presents and smoked 
the pipe. Giving one puff to the skies, one to the 
earth, two to the winds and waters on the right and 
left, and then a few whiffs on his own and our ac- 
counts, he returned the pipe to me. In the same 
manner I presented it to an old Indian who sat be- 
side him, and who kept his head down and his eyes 
shut. I held the presents close to his face for some 
time, when the Chief spoke to him, and he slowly 
raised his hand without looking up, took the pres- 
ents, smelled of the tobacco, pressed it to his heart 
and raised his head with a smile. The white man 
had gained the ascendant. The scene changed and 
all was friendly welcome where before was nothing 
but menacing and frowning coldness. All the others 
now received my presents and we smoked out the pipe 
in the friendship and confidence of brothers. The 
Chief then very earnestly asked me if I had seen the 
Osages. I said, I have not, but you know that this 
is their hunting ground and they may be in the coun- 
try. They said they knew this, and some further 
conversation established our intimacy on a firm foot- 
ing. The Chief then went out into the village and 
proclaimed in a loud voice that all should prepare to 
go next morning, over to the Canadian, to trade with 



2o6 [1823] 

the Tabbahoes, their white friends. Before this we 
were called Americanos, which was a less familiar 
and friendly appellation than the former. The proc- 
lamation was continued by the herald on horseback 
till late at night, each sentence ending with Tabba- 
hoes. "Get up your horses and make ready to go 
over to the white man's and trade with the Tabba- 
hoes. They have come a great way and brought us 
many good things — the Tabbahoes are good." This 
was loudly sounded before my lodge, and through- 
out the village all was preparation, joy and glad- 
ness. 

About sundown Potter entered our lodge with the 
greatest alarm depicted in his countenance, and gave 
me a gun barrel which the One Eyed Chief had just 
thrown down before him, and told him to carry to 
me. This was the last man on earth that I desired 
to see, for I regarded him my most deadly and most 
dangerous enemy, who had probably killed John Mc- 
Knight and was now seeking my blood. I asked 
Potter what else he said, and as he answered, "noth- 
ing more," he looked out and exclaimed, "there he is 
now, sitting on his horse. What shall I say to him?" 
I walked out to my old enemy and offered my hand. 
He took it with a steady and piercing look into my 
very soul; I returned his glance with an air of calm 
consideration and requested him to alight and enter 
my lodge. He did so, after delivering his horse to 
a bystander. In the lodge I motioned to him to be 
seated on a heap of skins. He sat down in silence 
and deep gravity. I lighted and smoked out the pipe 



[1823] 207 

with him in utter silence, and then took a silver gor- 
get or breast-plate, and with a ribbon attached I hung 
it around his neck and placed two silver arm bands 
just above the elbows, and two upon his wrists. The 
warrior submitted to all this in passive and ab- 
stracted silence, as if unconscious of what I was do- 
ing. I then put two plugs of tobacco, a knife and 
wampum, in his lap, while he preserved the rigid and 
inflexible appearance of a statue. I again lighted the 
pipe and smoked with him, when he arose, without 
a word, went out, and rode off with great rapidity. 
In the morning, all was confusion and busy activ- 
ity in the village, and one half of the band started 
for the Fort before me. I followed with the three 
men, and without a guard. In crossing a creek 
near the village, a horse became entangled and I told 
the men to hasten on and take care of the goods, 
while I loosened the horse, which I did, and on cross- 
ing the creek found sixty men drawn up in two lines 
on either side and who closed around me as I ap- 
proached them. I asked the Chief — who was Ala- 
sarea, the Towash — what he meant by this conduct. 
"Kesh, Kesh, kinsable," said he, "stop, stop; who 
knows but you are taking us over to your Fort to 
have us all killed by the Osages?" I asked him if he 
ever knew me to he. He said he had not, but he 
knew that the Spaniards were great hars. That may 
be said I, but the Americans never lie. "I do not 
know the Americans," said he, "but I know that the 
Spaniards are great Hars." I then reiterated my 
bold assertion of American veracity and said, "when 



2o8 [1823] 

your tribe robbed me on the South Fork and I prom- 
ised to visit your village on the Canadian and trade 
with you, did I not go as I promised?" "Yes," said 
the Chief. "And when Cordaro came to see me in 
Santa Fe, I promised him to go home and return 
with goods this year to your country. You know 
this, and have I not performed my promise?" "Yes 
you have," he said, and asked if I had not seen 
Osages. I told him I had not. With my words he 
appeared but partially satisfied and reluctantly pro- 
ceeded with me under a strong guard, but promised 
that my mules, horses, and goods, should be secured. 
In this manner I travelled all day, during which time 
the One Eyed spoke not a word to me. Late in the 
evening we crossed the Canadian and encamped on 
the bank. I was marched to the head Chief's lodge, 
where I found the men at liberty and my horses, &c., 
in good order. I went into the lodge to prepare for 
passing the night as comfortably as possible, and 
was engaged in looking at my goods, when my en- 
emy the One Eyed rode up and to my surprise ad- 
dressed me fluently in the Spanish language. This 
was the first time he had ever spoken to me. The 
man who had done me more injury than any other 
human being, from whose hands I had twice, nar- 
rowly escaped a bloody death, such, as I had every 
reason to suppose, McKnight had suffered from 
him — this man spoke to me kindly and invited me to 
go with him to his lodge. Suspecting treachery, I 
was loath to accept the invitation, and while I was 
hesitating, the old Chief came up and called me to 



[1823] 209 

him. On hearing what the One Eyed wanted he 
told me not to go, because "he is a bad man." Again 
the One Eyed came to me and repeated his re- 
quest, which I refused peremptorily, and he walked 
a few steps away with an impatient, angry air; then 
suddenly turning around, he fixed his piercing black 
eye intently upon me, walked up to me and implored, 
with a beseeching look and tones, that I should go 
with him to his lodge. I saw that he was unarmed, 
while I had two pistols, a tomahawk, and knife In 
my belt, and could anticipate the first hostile motion 
from him; also, that we were four men, in the midst 
of three thousand, and entirely at their mercy should 
they design to do us injury. I offered to visit the 
One Eyed on the following morning. "No, no," said 
he, "come now — oh! do come — come with me," in 
a tone of supphcation. I, at length, yielded and 
walked on towards his lodge, till the village dogs at- 
tacked me so furiously that he was obliged to dis- 
mount from his horse to my defence. He then of- 
fered me a seat on his horse, in front of him. I 
mounted behind him as the safest position, when he 
applied the whip and flew with me to his lodge, 
which we entered and were received by one of his 
wives with smiles and glad welcoming. A wife of 
the One Eyed took his horse as he alighted. In the 
lodge I took a seat opposite that of the Chief, and, 
facing his arms which hung over his bed or cot of 
buffalo robe. I could thus watch his motions and 
foil any murderous design that he might manifest, 
by shooting him on the spot and making my escape 



2IO [1823] 

on his horse. He lighted a pipe, however, and we 
smoked till his wife brought in some buffalo meat, 
of which we ate, while she apologised to me very 
kindly and politely for its poorness. "We have no 
marrow to cook with the meat and the buffalo are 
poor. It is the best we have, and you are welcome," 
said this charming squaw. The One Eyed only 
urged me to eat heartily, and when the repast was 
over, we again smoked the pipe in silence. Shaking 
the ashes into his hand, he slowly raised his head, 
looked into my face and asked if I knew him. I re- 
plied, yes. "Where did you first see me?" On the 
Salt Fork of the Canadian. "Where, the second 
time?" At the village on the Canadian Fork. "Did 
you know then that I wanted to kill you?" "Yes, I 
knew it." "True, I sought your life, and but for 
Big Star, the head Chief of the Ampireka band, I 
should have killed you and your men. I knew that 
you were traders with the Osages; you had their 
horses, their ropes, their skins, their saddles. The 
Osages had come and taken about two hundred of 
our horses, and I went out with a war party to re- 
cover them and punish the robbers. We found 
them, and fought a battle with them, in which my 
brother was killed. My brother was a great war- 
rior, a good hunter and a good man. I loved my 
brother." He then talked in a strain of mournful 
eulogy on his brother, while the tears coursed down 
his face, and he ended in violent weeping. Recover- 
ing himself, he said that he had gone on a second 
expedition to revenge his brother's death, when he 



[1823] 211 

overtook me on the Salt Fork of the Canadian, and 
there intended to murder our company. He then put 
the ashes which he held in his hand, on the ground, 
and taking a handful of earth from the fire place, 
covered the ashes with it, patting it three times with 
his hand. Another handful he used in the same 
manner, and then a third, during which time he 
moaned and wept violently; so much so that I was 
uneasy for my own safety in this outbreak of grief. 
He then looked up with an altered countenance, and 
exclaimed, "there, I have now buried my brother; 
but I have found another. I will take you for my 
brother;" and in a transport of feeling he embraced 
me with the words, "my brother, my brother." He 
then placed a charm around my neck, which he said 
would protect me from all enemies. It had been his 
brother's but when going into his last battle with 
the Osages, the owner left it behind with his blanket, 
and therefore, was killed. He then asked if the old 
Chief had tried to dissuade me from coming to his 
lodge, and on hearing that he had, he said: "He is 
an old fool: he does not know whether he will kill 
you or not, and he wants me to be your enemy, so 
that he may have my assistance should he determine 
to destroy you. If he dreams a good dream he is 
pleasant and friendly to you; if a bad one, he is 
grum and gloomy and wishes me to join him in kill- 
ing you. He is an old fool. He and his men expect 
to get back all the horses that you bought of them 
at the village, and that was the reason of their sell- 
ing so many of the best to you ; but you are now safe. 



212 [1823] 

you and your property. They shall not harm you or 
take back any of the horses. Though my men are 
few, yet every Indian in the nation fears me. They 
shall treat you well. I will describe you to all the 
nation, so that when ever you come among us you 
shall be safe from all danger. I will tell them you 
are my brother." We then conversed on various 
subjects, the battles he had fought, his ideas of re- 
ligion, &c. He bore proofs of his courage on his 
person, in five wounds; some of them large and dan- 
gerous. An arrow had pierced his left eye and a 
lance his side; but owing to the charm, or "medi- 
cine," which he wore, his enemies had been unable 
to kill him. He had been christened in the Spanish 
country, and said, "I beheve as you do in the Great 
Spirit. If I do well I shall go to a good place and 
be happy. If I do badly I shall go to the bad place 
and be miserable. 

On taking leave, I requested him to accompany 
me to keep off the dogs. Take my horse said he. 
But how shall I return him? "You will not return 
him, you will keep him my brother — keep him in re- 
membrance of me." I left with a lighter heart than 
I had brought to the lodge of the One Eyed Chief. 
I counted much on the benefit of his friendship, and 
subsequent events proved that I did not overrate its 
advantages. I met the old Chief on my return, who 
asked me if I had bought the horse of the One Eyed. 
His countenance fell on hearing the manner of my 
acquiring the animal, and he requested me to ex- 
change for a fine spotted war horse of his own, and 



[1823] 213 

then offered to give two for that of "my brother's." 
I refused the Insidious proposal, which was intended 
only to sow dissension between me and my new 
friend, and the Chief appeared very angry at his 
failure. 

Early the following morning, I saw the One Eyed 
Chief coming with two ribs of buffalo meat, and 
calling to me "moneta, moneta," (my brother) 
"your sister has sent some buffalo meat for your 
breakfast." The Chiefs of the army, who were all 
present and heard this unexpected salutation, looked 
at each other in astonishment at this extraordinary 
treatment of me by their greatest brave, who so 
lately appeared so implacable in his hostility to me. 
Their conduct towards me and the men immedi- 
ately changed. No guard was, after this, kept over 
us, and we were treated with respect and kindness. 
My powerful "brother," put a new face on our af- 
fairs and very probably saved us from the fate of 
McKnight. We now proceeded towards the Fort, 
the One Eyed riding by my side and talking very 
good humoredly and with great animation on a va- 
riety of topics. About the middle of the day I no- 
ticed preparations making by the warriors as for 
battle. I asked the One Eyed what this signified, and 
before he could reply, Alasarea rode up and ex- 
claimed, "Osages, Osages, a heap," and asked me 
whether I would stay or go over to them. I will 
stay said I. "Will you fight for us?" "I will," said 
I, and the One Eyed laughed and said they were only 
wild horses that had caused the alarm. I ascended 



214 [1823] 

a mound with him, whence I could observe the man- 
ner of catching these animals. In an incredible short 
time one hundred were captured and tamed so as to 
be nearly as subject to their masters as domestic 
horses reared on a farm. A small party of less 
than a hundred well mounted Indians were in am- 
bush, while a multitude scattered themselves over 
the prairie in all directions and drove the wild 
horses to the place where the others were concealed, 
which was a deep ravine. As soon as the wild drove 
were sufficiently near, these last rushed among them 
and every Indian secured his horse with his lasso or 
noosed rope, which he threw around the neck of the 
animal, and by a sudden turn brought him to the 
ground and there tied his heels together. This was 
the work of a few minutes, during which both horses 
and men were intermingled together in apparently 
inextricable confusion. The whole drove was taken 
at the first onset, except a fine black stud which flew 
like the wind, pursued by a hundred Indians, and in 
about two hours was brought back tamed and gen- 
tle. He walked close by the Indian who had cap- 
tured him, and who led him by a rope and wished to 
sell him to me. I feared his wild look and dilated 
eye, but his Indian master and protector said he was 
gentle and gave me the end of the rope with which 
he led him, when the noble animal immediately came 
near to me as to a new friend and master. He 
seemed by his manner to have ratified the transfer 
and chosen me in preference to the Indian. In 
twenty-four hours after their capture these horses 



[1823] 215 

became tamed and ready for use, and keep near to 
their owners as their only friends. I could perceive 
little difference between them and our farm horses. 
The Indians use their fleetest horses for catching the 
wild ones, and throw the lasso with great dexterity 
over their necks, when by turning quickly round and 
sometimes entangling their feet in the rope, they 
throw them on the ground, and then tie their legs 
together two and two, after which they release the 
neck from the tightened noose which in a short time 
would produce death by strangling. The sport is 
attended with the wildest excitement, and exceeds in 
interest and enjoyment all other sports of the chase 
that I ever saw. 

A thunder shower now blew up, and the army 
stretched their lodges and encamped. After the 
shower, a war party of about seven hundred men, 
under the command of Alasarea, started with me 
for the Fort, where we arrived about sundown. Each 
Indian was armed with a short gun, a bow and ar- 
rows, and a lance; some had pistols, and each had 
two horses, one of which he rode for marching, and 
one, his war horse, which he led, for the battle. 
Their appearance was formidable indeed as they ap- 
proached the Fort, and somewhat alarmed the gar- 
rison. They encamped for that night outside of the 
Fort, and in the morning I made them presents with 
which they were greatly pleased. At about ten 
o'clock the whole Camanche aimy came in sight, 
when some of my company were still more alarmed 
than they had been the day before. Several who be- 



2i6 [1823] 

fore starting, talked boastingly of making a razor 
strap of an Indian's skin, now lay In their tents quak- 
ing with fear and sweating cold drops. This was 
the first Indian army they had ever seen, and their 
courage fast melted away before the spectacle. 
"Come out," said I to them, "now Is your time to 
get a razor strap." The Camanches encamped in 
front of the Fort, on a space a mile and a half In 
length and about half a mile wide, and exhibited a 
friendly disposition. I traded with them for horses, 
mules, beaver fur, and buffalo robes. The former I 
sent as fast as I bought them, to a drove about a 
mile from the village, under charge of three men. 
On the morning of the third day four Indians, armed, 
went to the drove and took four of the best horses, 
in spite of the resistance of the guard, who were in- 
timidated by their violence. I immediately went to 
my "brother," the One Eyed, and Informed him of 
the robbery. He mounted his horse, with whip in 
hand, and in about two hours returned with two of 
the stolen horses. In the afternoon he brought back 
a third, and at night, came up with the fourth. His 
whip was bloody, and his face distorted with rage. 
He was in a mood to make men tremble before him, 
when none but the boldest spirits would dare to cross 
his path or oppose his will. After he had left the 
last horse with me, I heard his voice in every part 
of the camp, proclaiming what, the interpreter told 
me was a warning for the protection of my property. 
"Your horses are yours," said he, "to sell or keep as 
you please ; but when you once sell them you cannot 



[1823-1824] 217 

take them back. My brother has come from afar to 
trade with you and brought things that are good for 
you; and when you have sold him your horses and 
got your pay, you must not take them back." After 
this I was not molested again in a similar manner. 
The One Eyed Chief spent much of his time in my 
trading house, and assisted me by his advice and in- 
fluence over the Indians. He allowed me to judge 
of the horses for myself, but selected the buffalo 
robes for me and settled their prices. I bought 
many more of the latter than I brought back with 
me and might have purchased thousands. One plug 
of tobacco, a knife and a few strings of beads, in all 
worth but little more than a dime, bought one of 
these valuable skins or robes, worth at least five dol- 
lars in any of the States. 

The Indians had with them a great many young 
Spaniards as prisoners, one of whom, an excellent 
interpreter, wished me to purchase him. I offered 
the price of ten horses for him, but without success. 
I gave him many presents, which, he said, his mas- 
ters took from him as soon as they saw them, and he 
requested me to give him no more, as said he, "it is 
of no use." He was an intelligent and interesting 
boy. 

The Indians spent much time in drilling and fight- 
ing mock battles. Their skill and discipline would 
have made our militia dragoons blush for their In- 
feriority. They marched and counter-marched, 
charged and retreated, rapidly and in admirable or- 
der. Their skill in horsemanship is truly wonder- 



2i8 [1823-1824] 

ful, and I think, is not surpassed by that of the Cos- 
sacks or Mamelukes. I frequently put a plug of to- 
bacco on the ground for them to pick up when rid- 
ing at full speed. A dozen horsemen would start in 
a hne for the prize, and if the leader missed it, the 
second or third was always successful in seizing it, 
when he took the rear to give the others fair chance 
in the next race. 

There were six Pawnees from the river Platte, 
among these Camanches; one of whom came to me 
and said he knew me. "Where did you ever see 
me?" "At the Osage village," said he, "when you 
were buying horses." I then recollected that this 
Pawnee with several others had come into the vil- 
lage to make a treaty. He knew O'Fallon,^ of 
Council Bluffs, very well, and gave me some news of 
the Upper Missouri, and the traders there. He 
went off and soon returned with several Camanches, 
and again talked about the Osages and my trading 
with them. Perceiving his treacherous purpose, I 

■^Benjamin O'Fallon, son of Dr. James O'Fallon and Frances 
Eleanor Clark (youngest sister of Gov. William Clark) was born 20 
September 1793, and died at his residence in Jefferson County, Mo., 
near St. Louis, 17 December, 1842. He served for many years as 
Indian agent on the Missouri River under Governor Clark. He 
was an honest, courageous and careful officer, who possessed great 
influence over the various tribes with whom he came in contact, and 
was very efficient in the discharge of his duties, though he occasion- 
ally lost control of his temper inopportunely. He married at St. 
Charles, November 1823, Sophia, daughter of Patrick Lee and Con- 
stance Conde, and had six children, only one of whom is now liv- 
ing. He is frequently mentioned in Long's Expedition to the Rocky 
Mountains, in Beckworth's Life and Adventures and in Larpenteur's 
Journal. His memory is perpetuated in the west by O'Fallon's BlufiF 
on the Platte River in Nebraska, and O'Fallon's Creek in Montana, 
near Glendive. 




^^ o'^^^^.^^c^ 



From portrait presented to Missouri Historical Society 
by Miss Emily O' Fallon. 



[1823-1824] 219 

made no reply to his remarks which were as follows : 
"I saw you with the Osages; you bought horses of 
the Osages. Do you know where Osage village is? 
Is it not here?" marking on the ground the courses 
of the Arkansas, the Grand and the Verdigris riv- 
ers, and pointing to the place of their enemies' vil- 
lage. At last I told him I knew nothing about the 
Osages or their villages, which seemed to enrage 
him greatly, and he reiterated his assertions about 
having met me among the hereditary enemeis of the 
Pawnees and Camanches. Seeing the evil suspi- 
cions produced by his talk among the Indians, and 
the necessity of putting down the bad report without 
delay, I went to my "brother" and told him the 
Pawnee was setting his countrymen against me. He 
immediately went with me to the head Chief's lodge 
and had my Pawnee enemy brought before him. 
Fixing his dark eye upon him, the One Eyed Chief 
regarded him a moment in silence, and then said, 
"we have treated you well ever since you came 
among us. You lied to us when you said that you 
had seen the 'white haired man' (meaning John Mc- 
Knight) at the village of the Osages. And now you 
say you have seen my brother, too, among the 
Osages. This is all a lie. You are trying to make 
mischief between our people and my brother, and if 
you say any thing more against him I will drive you 
out of the nation. You shall not stay with us." The 
Pawnee trembled under this rebuke and walked off 
in silence, with the manner of a whipped spaniel. I 
heard no more from him. 



220 [1823-1824] 

On one occasion my "brother" asked permission 
to bring, in the evening, a party of his friends into 
the Fort to dance, and I consenting to the proposal, 
a party of forty, headed by the One Eyed, entered 
the Fort and danced for several hours, to their own 
singing and the sound of bells on a wand, carried by 
their leader. They were gorgeously attired in the 
height of Indian fashion and bon ton. They wore 
eagle and owl feathers, and were gaudily painted in 
every conceivable manner. The One Eyed wore a 
showy head dress of feather work, from under 
which the false hair fell to the ground; they all 
danced with wonderful agility and grace, and kept 
time better than most of dancers in more civilized 
and fashionable life. At the close they danced back- 
ward out of the gate, the Chief in front driving them 
with his wand, and they, in compliment to their host, 
feigning reluctance to go. With a loud shout of 
pleasure they at last went out together with regu- 
larity and order. 

At night we were aroused by shouting and sing- 
ing on all sides of the Fort, and we took our arms 
to repel an attack. I saw hundreds of Indians, most 
of them young men, clambering up the sides of the 
Fort and trying the doors to get in. The noise sud- 
denly ceased and in the morning the One Eyed told 
me that the young men had taken the opportunity 
when the old men were asleep to improve their ac- 
quaintance with me and to get some presents of to- 
bacco as the dancing party had done in the evening 
before, and that he had quelled the disturbance and 



[1823-1824] 221 

driven them off. I heard among this party both 
here and at the village where I first met them, the 
sound of moaning and loud wailing in two lodges, 
from a short time before sun set till dark. I had 
made a present of a gorget and arm bands to the 
Chief who befriended me so much on the Salt Fork 
of the Arkansas in my former expedition, and who 
was now in the village. A young Indian came to 
me, one evening, with the gorget and arm bands as 
a token, and requested me to go and see this Chief 
in his tent. I went with the young man towards the 
tent whence the sound of weeping was heard, and 
when within thirty steps, the messenger stopped and 
looked- at my feet. I noticed that he was bare- 
footed; he took off my shoes, and with me ap- 
proached the Chief, who was sitting in front of his 
lodge with bare feet, like the spectators who were 
standing deferentially around; and on the ground I 
saw two women and two girls, also bare-footed and 
smeared over the heads and faces, with mud and 
ashes. These were the same, whose voices I had 
heard on first entering the Camanche village. They 
were now rolling on the ground from side to side 
and weeping violently. Occasionally they scattered 
ashes over their heads and after short intervals of 
quiet, arising from exhaustion, they would burst out 
afresh in irrepressible fits of weeping and sobbing. 
The Chief arose, took be aside, and said that I could 
make these women stop crying. On my enquiring 
how I could do this, he replied, 'by covering them 
with cloth," meaning calico. I went to the store and 



222 [1823-I824] 

got four pieces of calico, with which I returned, and 
covered each with a piece. The Chief now spoke to 
them in his language, and appeared to console them, 
and remonstrated against any further exhibition of 
grief. Their crying gradually subsided into deep, 
long drawn sobs and hiccoughs, like those of chil- 
dren after violent weeping. From this night forth 
I heard their lamentations no more, and a few In- 
dians who had heretofore been cold and distant, 
now became friendly to me. I concluded that Mc- 
Knight, in fighting for his life, had killed the hus- 
bands of the women and fathers of the two girls 
who were thus lamenting, and that they required a 
token of friendship from me as an atonement and 
sign of reconciliation. The Indians had now dis- 
covered their mistake; that in killing McKnight they 
had destroyed a friend instead of an enemy, and all 
regarded me more kindly on account of their own in- 
justice to my friend. The One Eyed Chief, who 
was probably foremost in the murder, had taken me 
to his heart as his only brother, and was now ready 
to die for me, to atone for depriving me of my 
bosom friend, McKnight — "the white haired Tab- 
baho." The Pawnee's tale of having seen McKnight 
at the Osage village, was, I suppose, the reason for 
dispatching him; and in doing this, they had met 
with a desperate resistance from their victim, who 
was well armed and a most excellent marksman. The 
One Eyed did all in his power to recompense me for 
his loss. He was my fast friend, and exerted him- 
self to the utmost to advance all my interests and 



[1823-1824] 223 

wishes. His wife daily sent to her "brother" some 
delicacy, such as buffalo tongue, carefully cooked by 
herself. I began to be reconciled to a savage hfe 
and enamored with the simplicity of nature. Here 
were no debts, no Sheriffs or Marshals; no hypocri- 
cies or false friendships. With these simple chil- 
dren of the mountains and prairies, love and hate 
are honestly felt and exerted in their full intensity. 
No half-way passions, no interested feelings govern 
their attachments to their friends. When once en- 
listed for or against you, little short of Omnipo- 
tence can reverse the Indian's position. He loves 
and hates with steady persistence and consistency, 
and generally carries his first feelings regarding you, 
to his grave. His revenge is sure, his love is true 
and disinterested. You can count upon either with 
certainty, and need entertain no fear of being de- 
ceived as to their operations. 

A scouting war party on one occasion brought in 
seven American horses, shod and branded, a tent, a 
kettle, an axe, and some other articles, which I knew 
must have belonged to a trading party. They 
brought up the horses to the Fort to have the shoes 
taken off by our blacksmith, when I charged them 
with the robbery of my countrymen. They denied 
the charge, and said that they had taken this spoil 
from a party of Osages with whom they had had a 
battle, and exhibited, in proof of their operations, 
two scalps as those of their deadly enemies, the 
Osages. I learned, at Barbour's, on my return that 
they told me the truth. The Osages had robbed a 



224 [1823-1824] 

Santa Fe company and were themselves attacked in 
the night, by a party they knew not of what tribe, 
who had killed two men and robbed them of the 
booty I have mentioned. It was a fair instance of 
the biters being bitten, the game played by Prince 
Hal upon Falstaff, who, after robbing four travellers 
was attacked by the Prince and plundered of his 
spoil. From the warriors of this scouting party we 
learned that the whole nation of Osages was very 
near to us; being encamped on the Salt Fork at the 
distance of about a day's journey, and they advised 
us to leave our present position for one of more 
safety. The Camanche Chiefs held a council of 
war, or grand talk, and determined to go out and 
give battle to their enemies. On the next day they 
sent all their women and children up the river and 
went themselves, with their warriors, towards the 
Salt Fork in quest of the Osages. When the last of 
the nation were about going, an Indian came to me 
and claimed his horse, which another Indian had 
sold to me without his authority. I was about to 
give him the horse, when the One Eyed came up and 
enquired into the case, which he decided at once in 
my favor, and told the claimant he must look to the 
Indian who sold him, for his indemnity. Not liking 
the law of this decision, I paid the Indian for his 
horse, and he went away satisfied and highly pleased. 
Before starting, the Chiefs, in a body, came and ex- 
pressed great friendship for me and regret at leav- 
ing me as they were compelled to do. They said 
they wanted the American trade, and united in re- 



[1823-1824] 225 

questing me to encourage my countrymen to visit 
them with goods and trade with them. Trade with 
the Spaniards they said, was unprofitable; they had 
nothing to give them for their horses except amuni- 
tion, and this they refused to sell to the Indians. 
They wished the Americans to be friendly and inti- 
mate with them, and complained bitterly that we 
supplied their enemies, the Osages, with arms and 
amunition with which they made war upon the Ca- 
manches. "The Osages" said they, "get their pow- 
der, balls and guns from the Americans, but we can 
get none, or very few from them ; this is wrong, very 
wrong." The One Eyed, and several other Chiefs 
wished to visit their "Great Father," the President, 
and have a talk with him. They would have of- 
fered to accompany me to my "village" to see the 
Great Father, but said they, "you cannot defend us 
from the Osages, the Cherokees, and the Choctaws ; 
these nations are all at war with us, and we should 
have to go through their country. But tell our 
Great Father when you go back to your village, that 
we want him to stop these nations from stealing our 
horses and killing our people, as they have been do- 
ing for many years! Tell him to protect us and 
send his people out to trade with us. We will not 
hurt his people, but will defend them when they 
come among us. We will be brothers with the Amer- 
icans." The Chief of the Towashes told me that 
his tribe lived on the head waters of the Red River, 
and owned sixteen thousand horses, which were bet- 
ter than any I had bought of them. Judging from 



226 [1824] 

those which his warriors rode, I could believe what 
he said respecting the quality of their horses. He 
wished me to visit his tribe and trade with them. 
Many things did these wild Chiefs tell me to say 
for them to the "Great Father" when I reached my 
"village," and all insisted very earnestly that I should 
return to them in the Fall with goods, and bring 
the answer of their Great Father and all he said 
about them. "Then," said they, "we will go back 
with you and talk with him face to face." My 
"brother" told me to ascend the Red River in the 
Fall, and I should find the nation not far from the 
three big mounds near the head of that river, by 
which I suppose he meant some spurs of the Rocky 
Mountains. "And when you reach these mounds," 
said he, "you will see the smoke from the grass that 
we will burn every day so that you may find us. You 
can come with but two men and you shall be safe. 
I will speak of you to all the Camanches, and tell 
them you are my brother; and none will hurt you. 
You can travel without fear through all our coun- 
try; no one will dare to injure you or take your 
property." At parting with the Chiefs, they all em- 
braced me most affectionately. My "brother," es- 
pecially, showed all the feeling of a real brother; he 
threw his arms around my neck and burst into tears. 
Alasarea, the Towash, came to me last, and sat down 
with a grave and serious countenance. He several 
times struck his breast and said his heart was trou- 
bled. On my asking him the cause of his trouble, 
he said, "When you came here, you had twenty-three 



[1824] 227 

men and now you have but twenty-two; one Is dead. 
You say he was a good man." "Yes," said I, "he 
was a very good man." "You do not know how he 
was killed." "No, I do not, but perhaps I shall 
know one day." "Many Camanches," said he, "are 
bad; many Quawpas are bad; many of the Arripa- 
hoes are bad; many Towashes are bad, and so are 
many Pawnees. Some of all these are bad and they 
all hunt in this country. They might have killed the 
white-haired man. He might have wounded a buf- 
falo and been killed by him. A rattlesnake might 
have bit him. He is dead and you know not how. 
Here is my war horse, Checoba. I give him to you; 
no horse among the Camanches will catch him. He 
will carry you away from every enemy and out of 
any danger." With this he led up a splendid black 
horse, worthy and fit to have borne a Richard Coeur 
De Leon, or a Saladin, into their greatest battles. 
No Arab could ever boast a finer animal than this; 
the finest limbed, the best proportioned, the swift- 
est and the most beautiful I ever saw. I brought 
him home, but before leaving the wilderness, his 
speed was greatly impaired by the bite of a rattle- 
snake. 



CHAPTER SEVEN 

We Start for Home — A Stampedo — Loss of a Hundred Horses — 
Interview With a Chief and His Tribe — Pursued by Indians — 
Passage Through the Cross Tinnbers — Death of Horses by Flies 
— Night Travelling — Arrival at the Arkansas — Death of Horses 
by the Farcy — Loss of Skins and Robes by Embezzlement — Start 
for Home — Breakfast With a Cherokee Chief — James Rogers — 
An Old Cherokee — Interview With Missionaries — Arrival at 
Home — Troubles From Debt — An Emergence at Last — Conclu- 
sion. 

AFTER parting with these simple children of 
nature, we prepared for our departure home- 
ward. On the next day after packing up the goods, 
we abandoned the Fort and began to descend the 
river in perogues, and by land with the horses. Those 
in the boats who started before the others with the 
horses were to stop at the unfinished Fort one hun- 
dred miles below, and there await them. I trav- 
elled by land with the horses and met with no occur- 
rence worth mentioning till the second day. Then 
commenced a series of misfortunes and unavoidable 
accidents, which continued till I reached the settle- 
ments, and which destroyed all hope of profit from 
the adventure, and the consequences of which have 
weighed upon me to this day with a crushing weight. 
As we travelled along the north bank of the river, 
a small herd of buffalo suddenly rushed out from 
the river bank on our left before the horses, and 
frightened many of them into a stampedo as the 
228 



[1824] 229 

Spanish call the thundering sound of their stamping, 
flying hoofs on the prairie. A few of the men rode 
after them and succeeded in turning them back; 
but their shouts and use of the whips gave them an- 
other fright and they returned in a stampede among 
the drove and thus spread the panic among them. 
About one hundred ran off at a furious rate, on the 
route of the river by which we had come. Placing 
the best rider in my company on Checoba, I ordered 
him to try his best speed and bottom in the pursuit. 
He started and ran sixteen miles, where he headed 
the flying horses that had become mingled with a 
wild drove, and he was driving them all before him 
and Checoba, when a rattlesnake bit the noble ani- 
mal on the fore foot. Checoba immediately sickened 
and was brought back with great difficulty. On 
the following morning his foot and leg were swelled, 
and he was very lame and weak. I placed him in 
mud and water, where he stood for several hours, 
when the swelling subsided and he was much re- 
lieved. By this accident I lost all the horses which 
ran off in the stampedo, and Checoba was materially 
injured for life. I remained till the next morning, 
when Checoba was able to travel, and I started with 
him in advance of the company. Soon after cross- 
ing a small branch, I saw an Indian about two hun- 
dred yards ahead in the prairie, who, riding onto a 
high mound, hailed me with the word Tabbaho? As 
I replied, yes, I perceived several Indians approach- 
ing me from the prairie and my company behind also 



230 [1824] 

observed them. McKnight and Adams^ hastened to 
reach me before the Indians, who came up friendly, 
and spoke to us in the Spanish language. As we 
three spoke Spanish they took us for Spaniards, and 
said that they were of the Caddo tribe, who were In 
alliance with the Camanches. Some of the latter 
tribe and a number of Towashes were In their party, 
which they said was on Its march behind them. They 
had just come out of a battle with the Osages, by 
whom they had been defeated, and were proceeding 
to tell us of the battle when I observed a party of 
about two hundred Indians coming towards us and 
also noticed a small grove a short distance before 
us. I ordered my party to hasten forward to this 
grove and occupy It In advance of the Indians. As 
they drove the horses forward, the rope which held 
the pack on a horse, which I had brought from home 
with me, got loose and was trod on by the horses 
behind, which pulled the pack under his belly. He 
started forward, kicking and pitching until he had 
got rid of his load, and then returned at full speed 
among the drove, which broke Into another stam- 
pede. Off they flew, and many of them ran entirely 

1 James Adams, son of Calvin Adams and Sally Michau, was 
born in St. Louis, 17 July, 1802. Calvin Adams, one of the iew 
Americans in upper Louisiana during Spanish times, came to St. 
Louis from Connecticut about the beginning of the nineteenth cen- 
tury. Seemingly only two of their children lived to reach maturity 
— James and his elder brother David. David went with Long's 
expedition as Spanish interpreter. Both James and David were with 
Bonneville, and after Bonneville left the mountains David Adams, 
in partnership with Jean Sibille of St. Louis, carried on the fur trade 
on the Platte for some years. James Adams owned sufficient real 
estate in St. Louis to have made good any claim which General 
James might have had against him. 



[1824] 231 

out of sight on the level prairie, with the speed of 
birds on the wing. I lost about thirty in this flight. 
We reached the grove at the same time with the 
Indians, who then discovered us to be Americans and 
not Spaniards, which greatly displeased some. The 
Chief, however, was friendly. An Indian took up 
and examined McKnight's gun, which he had left 
leaning against a tree, and riding into the crowd, 
brandished it over his head, exclaiming that we had 
stolen the horses ; that they ought to take them from 
us and kill us. The old Chief ordered him to be 
silent, and he said if they would not kill us he would 
go and bring men who would do so, and started off 
in a gallop towards the Canadian with McKnight's 
gun. Many of the Indians charged us with having 
stolen Checoba from Alasarea, the Towash, and 
seemed to believe the charge, and to consider us 
thieves who had been preying upon their country- 
men. One who appeared to be the most bloodthirsty 
shot an arrow into the side of one of their own 
horses near the lights. The horse bounded forward 
and fell dead. This act excited them to the highest 
pitch, and the old Chief had great difficulty in pro- 
tecting us from an attack; by an harangue and a 
decisive course he at length assuaged their animos- 
ity and excitement. Their late defeat by the Osages 
had embittered their minds, and predisposed them 
to view us with suspicion. Seven men among them 
carried wounds received in the late battle, and by 
request of the Chief I dressed these wounds with 
salve and sticking plaster. While I was thus en- 



232 [1824] 

gaged, I sent the men forward a short distance, when 
they awaited me with their rifles ready to return the 
fire of the Indians. But they parted with us peace- 
ably, and the Chief with great cordiality entreated 
me to return to his country and trade with his tribe. 
We want, said he, the friendship and trade of the 
Americans. I always observed that the most saga- 
cious and far-seeing of the Camanche Chieftains sin- 
cerely desired the friendship and alliance of the 
Americans. A proper course towards them will 
make them our fast friends and most valuable allies. 
An opposite one will render them most deadly and 
dangerous enemies, and especially so in the event of 
a war with England. A course of justice, fairness 
and liberality is the only judicious one ; and in deal- 
ing with them, the greatest tact and much knowledge 
of Indian character is requisite for success in gain- 
ing their confidence and securing their lasting es- 
teem and friendship. The Pawnees and all the tribes 
west of the Osages, called by the national name of 
Camanches, are all of the same original tribe, though 
bearing various names, and all speak the same lan- 
guage.^ They are in the strictest alliance with each 
other, and could probably muster a force of forty 
or fifty thousand warriors at the time I was among 
them. The United States should provide against 
the consequences of their hostility. 

2 This is an error. The Comanches are of the same stock as the 
Shoshonees or Snakes of the northwest. The Pawnees are of Cad- 
doan stock. The language of the Comanches and the Pawnees is not 
the same. 



[1824] 233 

After parting from the Caddo Chief, I sent the 
company with the horses forward, and remained be- 
hind with McKnight to watch against pursuit by 
the Indians. Finding that we were not followed, we 
hastened on and overtook the rest of the company, 
and all reached the unfinished Fort in the afternoon, 
where we found the perogues and swivel in charge 
of the men who had brought them down the river 
and were awaiting us according to the arrangement. 
We travelled on in company till nightfall, when the 
land party crossed the river at a bend and encamped 
with the others in a grove. We carefully secured 
our horses. On the following morning, as we issued 
from the timber into the prairie, a dead buffalo cow 
was seen with her calf standing near her. We soon 
saw another cow lately killed by a party evidently in 
pursuit of us. We travelled in company with the 
perogues, that we might have the benefit of the swivel 
in case of an attack. In the Cross Timbers, which 
we reached in four or five days after leaving the 
last-mentioned Fort, we again parted company with 
the perogues and struck out into the prairie. Here 
we soon afterwards observed a herd of buffalo run- 
ning rapidly with their tongues hanging out of their 
mouths, and also eight Indians mounted, who did 
not perceive us. In three days we passed the Cross 
Timbers and reached the long-grass prairies on the 
east of them. Here the horse flies were so numerous 
and ravenous as nearly to destroy the horses, which 
were frequently covered entirely by them. Many of 
the horses died and all were wasting away under the 



234 [1824] 

inflictions of these venomous insects. To avoid them, 
we travelled only by night and slept by day. I took 
the direction by guess and in eight days, or rather, 
nights, we struck the Arkansas just five miles below 
the three forks, where Fort Gibson now stands, and 
the point which I was aiming to reach. I went up 
to the forks where Barbour's trading establishment 
was then situated and there obtained a canoe. Bar- 
bour, I afterwards learned, had died in New Or- 
leans, whither he started with my keel boat on my 
outward trip. We travelled down the Arkansas to 
the mouth of the Canadian, and found the rest of 
my company with the perogues, awaiting us at the 
Salt works. Here I took an account of my stock, 
and found that out of three hundred and twenty- 
three horses and mules which I had purchased of the 
Indians and started with for home, I had lost by 
flies and stampedos just two hundred and fifty-three, 
leaving but seventy-one now in my possession. These 
I allowed to rest one day, and on the next day lost 
five of them by a disease called the Farcy, which 
causes a swelling of the breast and belly and gen- 
erally terminates fatally. On the day and night fol- 
lowing, eight or ten more of the horses died and 
about twenty were sick with the disease. I was too 
anxious for my family and too desirous of seeing 
them to delay my departure any longer. Here, at 
the mouth of the Illinois River, ^ a branch of the 
Arkansas, and near the mouth of the Canadian, I 

3 The Illinois River (so named most likely by some coureur de 
bois from Kaskaskia) is a very crooked little stream which rises in 



[1824] 235 

left the few horses and mules remaining, and the 
perogue containing the skins and robes, in charge of 
Adams & Denison. I never saw them again and 
lost all — horses and mules, beaver skins and buffalo 
robes. I returned home with five horses, just the 
same number I had started out with. Most of them 
died, and those that lived were never accounted for 
to me. The skins and robes were sold by James Ad- 
ams, at Eaii-Post, in Arkansas, on the river of that 
name, and the whole proceeds, amounting to a large 
sum of my money, were embezzled by him, the said 
Adams. He had been employed by McKnight and 
was unknown to me. In every respect, pecuniarily 
and otherwise, this was a most unfortunate venture. 
I lost by it my best and dearest friend, John Mc- 
Knight, and all the money I had invested in it, with 
the vain hope of being thereby set free from debt 
and made an independent man. The object was a 
great one, and the risk proportionately great. I 
lost all that I had set upon the stake and was still 
more deeply involved than before. A dreary future 
lay ahead, but I determined to meet and struggle 
with it like a man. 

Leaving the river, in company with twelve men, 
some afoot and some with horses, we directed our 
course for the Cherokee country. We found no 
game and for several days all suffered severely from 
hunger. We at length approached the Cherokee set- 
Washington County, Arkansas, flows through Adair, Cherokee and 
Sequoyah Counties, Oklahoma, and joins the Arkansas River about 
five miles above the mouth of the Canadian. 



236 [1824] 

tlements; and I went forward alone, promising the 
men to have a meal prepared for them at the house 
of John Rogers,* a half-breed Cherokee Chief. When 
in sight of his place I met Rogers and told him I 
wanted breakfast for myself and twelve men; that 
I had been among the Camanches trading, and that 
my company was coming up nearly starved. He 
replied that his tribe had been at war that year, 
with the Osages and had raised but a small crop, 
and that he had to pay one dollar per bushel for 
his bread. "But," said he, "I will get you some- 
thing to eat," and entering his house, requested his 
wife to prepare breakfast for twelve men, and with 
a smile, "twelve hungry men at that." I noticed in 
his house, all the usual furniture of our best farmers, 
and he was evidently living well and comfortably. 
The men came up, and by their rough exteriors, 
long beards and hair, lantern jaws and lank bodies, 

^ John Rogers, chief of the Western Cherokees, was of mixed 
blood, Cherokee, Scotch and English. He was a half brother on his 
father's side, of Talihina, or Tiana, the wife of General Sam Hous- 
ton. He was one of the early immigrants to Arkansas, and made 
his home near where Fort Smith was later built upon land sold by 
him to the United States. 

No records of his personal history have been found, but it is said 
of him that "he was one of the most respectable of the civilized 
Cherokees, and one to whom that nation is much indebted for its 
development and growth." 

Hildreth, writing in 1834, says, "Near our encampment is the 
dwelling of an old Cherokee named Roger [John Rogers], who has 
grown immensely rich, and lives in the greatest affluence known to 
his rude taste; he owns a large tract of land in the neighborhood, 
and so many head of cattle that he cannot count them ; his pigs and 
poultry are so numerous that, notwithstanding the frequent poach- 
ing expeditions that are directed against them, they never seem to 
be diminished." Dragoon Campaigns to the Rocky Mountains, p. 
196. And see 4 Long's Expedition (Thwaites' Ed.), p. 23. 



[1824] 237 

they strongly Impressed me with the idea of a gang 
of famished wolves. They glared at Mrs. Rogers, 
while she was getting their breakfast, like so many 
cannibals, and had she not been very quick in ap- 
peasing their appetites, I cannot swear but that they 
would have eaten her up. She, the good woman, 
squaw though she was, exerted herself in our behalf 
like an angel of mercy, and in a miraculously short 
time she set before us a noble meal of bacon, eggs, 
corn bread, milk and coffee; there was enough for 
us all and we arose filled, leaving some on the table, 
not from politeness but from inability to eat any 
more. Well, Mr. Rogers, said I, what shall I pay 
you for our breakfast?" "What," said he, laughing, 
"would be the use of charging men who have just 
come out of the woods and cannot possibly have 
any money?" No, said I, I am not begging my way; 
I will pay you with goods that I have. I then drew 
out my stock and sold him twelve dollars' worth, 
after paying for our meal. The father and sister 
of Rogers now came in and talked with us some time. 
The father, who was a white man, said that his son 
John killed the first Indian at the battle of the Horse- 
shoe, where both served on the side of the Americans 
under Jackson. "The Creeks," said he, "always 
fight till death. It takes one Cherokee for every 
Creek, and of the whites a little more than one for 
one." Both father and son spoke in the highest 
terms of Gen, Jackson, as a man, a soldier and a 
commander. 



238 [i824] 

I requested provisions to subsist us till we could 
get a supply, and obtained from him sufficient to 
carry us to Matthew Lyon's trading house at the 
Spadre.^ Below this is a large Missionary station, 
which we were informed was well supplied with flour 
and meat, of which a boat load for their use had 
lately arrived. "If you find the missionaries in good 
humor," said Mrs. Rogers, "and do not go on the 
Lord's Day, you will be able to get some provisions, 
but not without. I was down at the station last 
week on Saturday and stayed over Sunday. A Cher- 
okee woman came in on Sunday from Piney, twenty 
miles above on the river, with some chickens to buy 
some sugar and coffee for a poor woman who had 
been lately confined. I interpreted for the woman, 
and went to brother Vail and told him what the 
woman wanted. I don't deal with the females, said 

he ; you must go to sister . We went to the 

sister that brother Vail had named, and she told 
me that they neither bought nor sold on the Lord's 
Day. Then take the chickens as a gift, said I, and 
give the woman what she wants. We neither give 
nor take on the Lord's Day, said she, and the poor 
woman had to go back with her chickens, and so I 
advise you not to go to the Missionaries on the 
Lord's Day." I could hardly believe that bigotry and 
fanaticism could go so far as this, until I found by 
experience, when I reached the station, that their 

^ Spadra is a town on the north side of the Arkansas River at the 
mouth of Spadra Creek. It is in Johnson County, one hundred and 
five miles northwest from Little Rock. It now has a population of 
about one thousand. 



[1824] 239 

meanness was fully equal to all I had heard. We 
left the hospitable house of the Cherokee Chief with 
many thanks and proceeded on our way. At a short 
distance from the Spadre, I was riding alone in ad- 
vance of the company, when a met a gentlemanly and 
intelligent half-breed Cherokee, of whom I enquired 
if I could procure provisions at that place. He said 
I could not, but invited me to alight and take break- 
fast with him. There are too many of us, said I, 
twelve beside myself. This did not daunt him and 
he immediately extended his invitation to all, and the 
whole company accordingly entered his house and 
partook of an excellent breakfast, such as that which 
his brother had furnished us two days before. This 
man was James, the brother of John Rogers,*' and 
lived like him in comfort and elegance. His wife 
was a handsome half-breed, whom I presented with 
some articles of dress, against the wish of her hus- 
band, who refused all pay for our breakfast. He 
purchased of me goods to the amount of fifteen dol- 
lars and paid me the money for them. We passed 

^ James Rogers was a full brother of John Rogers (see note 4 
ante), and probably immigrated with him to Arkansas. In 1817 he 
signed a treaty with the United States as one of the Arkansas Chiefs. 
In 1828 he was sent to Georgia by the War Department to explain 
to the Eastern Cherokees "the kind of soil, climate and prospects 
that await them in the West, and to use, in his discretion, the best 
methods to induce the Indians residing within the chartered limits 
of Georgia to emigrate." He was furnished with money by the 
ITnited States to such a liberal extent that it aroused the cupidity of 
the whites, and they so plied Rogers with strong drink that his mis- 
sion was wholly defeated. He was sent again to Georgia, in 1835, 
by his own people on a like errand, and on that occasion was suc- 
cessful. He was known among the whites as Captain Rogers, as 
Broke-arm Jim, and as California Jim, the latter name originating 
in the fact that he visited the gold fields of California in 1849. In 



240 [1824] 

the Spadre that morning, where I saw the grave of 
Matthew Lyon, a man who made a considerable fig- 
ure in poHtics in the Alien and Sedition times of John 
Adams. "After life's fitful fever he sleeps well." 
At Piney I saw a number of Indians, and enquired 
of them for provisions. We are hungry, said I, and 
have nothing to eat. A negro woman said they were 
starving themselves and could not help us to any- 
thing. I told the man we should be compelled to 
fast until we reached Weber's" or the Missionaries. 
An old Indian who stood behind me during this col- 
loquy, caught hold of my arm as I started on, and 
with a sharp enquiring look into my eyes, exclaimed, 
"Nothing! nothing to eat?" Nothing at all, said I. 
"Come with me," said he. I followed him about 
one hundred yards up the bank of a creek where 
he turned up a hollow and entered a cabin under the 
brow of a hill; going to the chimney he took from 
within it a stick holding three pieces of bacon and 
gave me two of them. I offered him money. "No,'^ 
said he, "I take no money, but when you meet a hun- 
gry Cherokee share with him whatever you have, as 
I have shared with you." Such conduct as this, 

his later years he lived on the Arkansas River, between the Neosho 
and the Verdigris, about two and a half miles west of Fort Gibson. 
There, for a time, his brother-in-law. General Sam Houston, was a 
near neighbor. Rogers died at an advanced age in the early seven- 
ties of the nineteenth century. 

^ "Mr. Walter Webber, a metjf, who acts as an Indian trader, is 
also a chief of the nation, and lives in ease and affluence, possessing 
a decently furnished and well provided house, several negro slaves, 
a large well cleared, and well fenced farm; and both himself and 
his nephew read, write and speak English." (Nuttall). Webber 
lived at the foot of the Dardanelle hills (Shinn), in what is now 
Pope County, Arkansas. 



[1824] ^41 

thought I, is practical Christianity, call it by what 
name you please. Parting with this warm-hearted 
Indian, we hastened on towards the Missionary sta- 
tion,' which we reached the next day. This was sit- 
uated on the north side of the river, and was com- 
posed of about one hundred persons, old and young, 
who occupied some twenty buildings arranged in a 
square. Here we hoped to obtain a full supply of 
provisions, being informed that one hundred barrels 
of pork and one hundred and fifty barrels of flour 
had lately arrived for the use of the Missionaries and 
their families. Entering the town, I enquired for 
and found the head of the concern, named Vail, laid 
before him our destitute condition and misfortunes in 
the Camanche country, and asked him for provisions 
enough to last us to the settlements on the Little Red, 

8 This was the Dwight mission, situated, in what is now Pope 
County, Arkansas, on the west side of Illinois Creek, about four 
miles north of the Arkansas River, and about two hundred miles 
above Arkansas Post. Work was begun upon the clearmg of the 
ground and the building of the mission houses, 25 August 1820, and 
the "mission family" arrived at the place 10 May 1821. The estab- 
lishment was conducted under the auspices of the American Board 
of Foreign Missions whose headquarters were at Boston. The chiefs 
of the mission were the Rev. Alfred Finney and the Rev. Cephas 
Washburn; the attaches were mostly from Randolph, Vermont. 
Washburn seems to have been much esteemed by the people of 
Arkansas, but the memory of the others has not been preserved. 
Liberal extracts from the Journal of the Mission are published in 
the Missionary Herald for 1822, ending, however, with 5 June of 
that vear. Later volumes of the Herald have been carefully exam- 
ined, but nothing has been found relating to the time of James' visit. 

There was a Rev. William F. Vaill who was principal of the 
Union mission among the Osages at this time, and a man named Vail 
who was, in 1821, connected with the Brainerd mission to the Chero- 
kees east of the Mississippi. Both the Union and Brainerd missions 
were conducted under the same auspices as that at Dwight. The 
journal speaks of the presence of the former at Dwight in June 1821, 
but no person of the name is spoken of as being in authority there. 



242 [1824] 

seventy miles below. "Well," said he, "I will speak 
to brother such a one about it," and went away for 
that purpose. Another man soon came up and asked 
me how much we wanted. I replied about one hun- 
dred pounds of flour and fifty of pork. "Well I vow 
and declare, I don't know how we shall be able to 
spare it; how much would you be willing to give?" 
Any reasonable price, said I ; what do you ask. We 
are suffering from hunger and must have provisions. 
He left me, saying he would see brother Vail about 
it and I waited an hour without seeing either of them. 
I then searched out brother Vail and repeated my re- 
quest for provisions. He vowed and declared that 
he did not think they had more than enough "to do 
them the year round." I then asked for one-half 
the quantity I had named before. "We have a very 
large family, and if we should get out we could not 
get any more from the settlements." I said that 
what little we wanted would not make more than one 
meal for his family, and he could easily procure a 
new supply to prevent any suffering. "Well," said 
he, "what would you be willing to give?" "Set your 
own price on your property," said I, "and I will give 
it, as I cannot do without provisions." He then 
went away, saying he would see the others, naming 
them. Robert McKnight now came from the black- 
smith's shop, where he had got his mule shod on the 
fore feet and had been charged for that service the 
sum of two dollars. We concluded that they knew 
the price of horse shoes, if not of flour and pork. 
Again I sought out the "brethren," Vail and the 



[1824] 243 

other, reiterated to them our wants, and requested 
relief as before; the eternal question was again put, 
what would you be willing to give? Anything that 
you choose to ask, said I. "We do not think we can 
spare any provisions," said one. They were waiting 
for a bid, and I determined not to huckster with the 
canting hypocrites, nor gratify them by paying an 
outrageously exorbitant price, which they were ex- 
pecting to get from my necessities. Without further 
parley I left them and went up to the bakery of the 
Station, where some of my company were trying to 
get some bread. I offered to pay for whatever they 
could sell. "No, we can't sell anything without 
brother Vall's permission." I offered to buy two or 
three bushels of fragments of bread, which I noticed 
on the table in a corner. "We use them in soups and 
for puddings and do not waste anything." My men 
were now furious and ready to take possession of the 
bakery and divide It out among them. With great 
difficulty I restrained them from this act. I told 
them they would render us all infamous in the settle- 
ments as robbers of the Missionaries, those holy men 
of God; that we should be regarded with horror by 
all, wherever we went, if we preyed upon these lamb- 
like and charitable christians. I told them we must 
go on and trust to Providence. "What!" said Mc- 
Knight, "travel on without provisions when there are 
plenty of them here. I will have some, if need be, 
by force." I at length prevailed on them to start 
without committing any depredation. When leaving 
the town, I saw Vail at a distance, rode up to him 



244 [1824] 

and asked, "What are you doing here?" "We are 
instructing the Indians in the Christian religion." "I 
think," said I, "you might learn some of the princi- 
ples of your religion from the Indians themselves. 
An old Cherokee yesterday gave me two out of three 
pieces of meat which he had, and refused pay for 
them in money. He told me to do the same by a 
Cherokee should I meet one in want. Here you are 
afraid to put a price on your flour and meat for fear 
of not charging enough. You wish me to name an 
exorbitant price. You wish to make the most out 
of me and you shall make nothing." He was saying 
that charity began at home, he must provide for his 
own household, and so forth, as I left him In disgust 
with his meanness and hypocrisy. We now left the 
river and bore eastwardly, and that evening killed a 
turkey, upon which we lived two days and a half, 
when we reached Little Red River,^ where we pro- 
cured an excellent dinner, and a supply of food from 
a settler whose name I forgot. This was the first meal 
we had eaten, sufiicient to break our fasts, since we 
had left James Rogers' house, five days before. 

From this place I hastened home without any oc- 
currence of note. My family was sick when I ar- 
rived, and my creditors soon became more clamorous 

3 Little Red River rises in Van Buren County, Arkansas, and tra- 
verses Cleburne and White Counties to its confluence with White 
River, at a point directly west and about seventy five miles distant 
from Memphis. James struck the Little Red at about the point where 
it is crosesd by the ancient Indian trail which led from St. Louis to 
Natchitoches, the general course of which is now followed by the 
Iron Mountain rail road. It was by this trail that James made his 
way homewards. 



[1824] 245 

than ever; each endeavored to anticipate the others, 
and the executive officers of all the courts, from the 
United States District Court down to those of Jus- 
tices of the Peace, swarmed around me Hke insects 
in August. I gave up all my property, even the beds 
upon which my children were born, and after all was 
sold, though the officers supposed there was enough 
to satisfy the judgments against me, there yet re- 
mained a large amount still due. The whole is now 
paid. In the twenty years which have intervened I 
discharged all my debts on account of these two 
expeditions of which the narration is now closed. 
I lost by them about the sum of twelve thousand dol- 
lars, and after all the hardships I had endured, found 
myself poorer than ever. The reader has been told 
how I incurred these losses, most of which were, per- 
haps, under the circumstances, to have been expected. 
I was the first American that ever went among the 
Camanches for the purpose of trading. Before my 
first trip among them their name was unknown to 
our people; the Americans called them Pawnees and 
knew them only by that name. They were then wilder 
and more ignorant of our power than now, when they 
have probably learned that we do not all live in one 
village, and have derived from their kindred tribe, 
the Pawnees, and other neighbors, a tolerably cor- 
rect idea of our strength and numbers. Traders 
would now run very little risk of the robberies which 
I suffered from them, and probably none at all of 
being killed in time of peace. The trade would now 
be profitable ; equally so as when I was among them, 



246 [1824] 

and from the greater cheapness of goods a greater 
profit could be made, while the dangers would be 
far less. Were it not for advancing age, I should 
repeat the adventures, notwithstanding their unfor- 
tunate issues heretofore. Age, however, forbids any 
farther attempts to retrieve my fortune in this man- 
ner. I have been enabled through the real friend- 
ship of a brother to support my family and give my 
children the rudiments and foundation of an educa- 
tion; which, though not such as I would have given 
them had better fortune attended me, is sufficient, 
if properly improved, to enable them to go through 
the world with honor and usefulness. I have uni- 
formly endeavored to instil in their minds principles 
of integrity and republicanism; and for myself, to 
bequeath, as the richest inheritance I could leave 
them, a good example and an unsullied name. With 
strong bodies and habits of labor, with honor and 
intelligence, they will succeed in a country of liberty 
and equal rights to all. I have always been true to 
my country, and uniformly studied to advance the 
interests of my countrymen in all my transactions 
with the savages and Spaniards; and I have my re- 
ward in the satisfaction derived from a conscientious 
and patriotic discharge of duty on all occasions. 
At the age of sixty-three, with broken health, I feel 
none of the peevishness of age ; I look forward cheer- 
fully and hopefully on the coming days, without 

"Shuddering to feel their shadows o'er me creep," 

and rejoice, in my decline, over the rise and glorious 
prospects of my country. I have the consolation of 



[1824] 247 

being able to recall to my mind several manifesta- 
tions of the confidence and esteem of my fellow-cit- 
izens, exerted towards me at a time when the hand 
of misfortune bore heaviest upon my head. They 
did me the honor, in eighteen hundred and twenty- 
five, of electing me General of the Second Brigade, 
First Division of the Militia of Illinois, an office 
which I now hold. I was also elected, in the same 
year, to represent the county of Monroe in the Leg- 
islature of Illinois, of which I was a member for two 
sessions. I was appointed Post Master in the same 
county in eighteen hundred and twenty-seven, and 
have held the appointment ever since. 

I would mention my agency in the Black Hawk 
War of eighteen hundred and thirty-two, in which I 
served as Major, were it not a war in which no 
honor was gained by any one; and the history of 
which, for the credit of the country, ought never to 
be written. 

These proofs of the esteem of my countrymen are 
gratifying and consoling amidst the difficulties which 
have so long weighed me down, and are evidence that 
a generous people will appreciate the intrinsic char- 
acter of a man, independent of adventitious circum- 
stances, the frowns or the favors of fortune. 



APPENDIX 

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF THE M AND AN CHIEF, 
SHEHAKA 

SHE-HA-KA (Sha-ha-ka, She-he-ke, or Big White) was given 
a medal by Lewis and Clark in October, 1804, in recognition of 
his rank as chief, which medal is still preserved by his descend- 
ants. In August, 1806, on the return of Lewis and Clark from 
the Pacific, She-ha-ka accepted their invitation to visit "their great 
father" at Washington, and together with his wife (Yellow Corn) 
and his son (White-Painted House) and his interpreter Rene Jus- 
seaume, his wife and two children, embarked with them for the 
journey. He and his followers visited President Jefferson at Wash- 
ington, returned to St. Louis, and in 1807 undertook to ascend the 
Missouri to his home. He was driven back by the Arickaras and 
remained in St. Louis until June, 1809. For an account of the un- 
successful journey in 1807, see letter of Nathaniel Prior, Annals of 
Iowa, 3d series, vol. i, p. 616, and Letter of Rene Jusseaume, 4 Mo. 
Hist. Soc. Collections, p. 234. Brackenridge met him in 1811, and 
says of him, — "He is a fine looking Indian and very intelligent — 
his complexion fair, very little different from that of a white man 
much exposed to the sun. His wife had also accompanied him — 
had a good complexion and agreeable features. They had returned 
home loaded with presents, but have since fallen into disrepute 
from the extravagant tales which they related as to what they had 
witnessed ; for the Mandans treated with ridicule the idea of there 
being a greater or more numerous people than themselves. He is 
a man of mild and gentle disposition — expressed a wish to come 
and live among the whites, and spoke sensibly of the insecurity, the 
ferocity of manners, and the ignorance of the state of society in 
which he was placed. He is rather inclining to corpulency, a lit- 
tle talkative, which is regarded among the Indians as a great de- 
fect; add to this his not being celebrated as a warrior; such celeb- 
rity can alone confer authority and importance or be regarded 
meritorious in this state of society." Brackenridge's Journal of a 
Voyage up the Missouri River in 1811, 2d Ed. 

An unpublished contemporary manuscript in the archives of the 
Missouri Historical Society contains these entries re^-'-^'ins: him: 
"Tuesday 27 [August 1812], — the Big White, Mandan *^u.^., ar- 
248 



Appendix 240 

rived with several of his braves and family to pay a visit; he had 
a few robes which he traded, and took some articles on credit." 
"Saturday the 3d [October 18 12] — at sunset 2 Mandans arrived 
with the sad news of the Big White and Little Crow being killed 
by the Big bellies and 3 Mandans wounded: the Big bellies had 
II men killed and a number wounded." The family tradition is 
that he was killed by the Sioux, which is evidently erroneous. He 
was about forty six years old at the time of his death. For some 
particulars about the family see Collections of the North Dakota 
Historical Society, Vol. 2, p. 470. 

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF NATHANIEL PRYOR 

NATHANIEL PRYOR was born in Virginia; the date and place 
of his birth have not been discovered, but the place was prob- 
ably in Amherst County. His Pryor ancestry is untraceable; his 
mother was a daughter of William Floyd and Abadiah Davis who 
were married in Amherst County in 1747. Abadiah was daughter 
of Nathaniel Davis whose wife was the daughter of Nicketti, the 
daughter of the Chief Powhatan and the sister of Pocahontas. 
Through the Davises, Pryor was also connected with the Shelbys, 
the Lewises, the Cabells and with President Jefferson Davis. Na- 
thaniel Pryor probably removed to Kentucky with the family of his 
uncle Charles Floyd. At Louisville, in 1803, Pryor and his cousin 
Charles Floyd joined Lewis and Clark, and both were given the 
rank of sergeant in the party. After his return from the Pacific 
Pryor entered the army, receiving an appointment as ensign in the 
ist U. S. Infantry, 27 February, 1807, and of second lieutenant, 
3 May, 1808. On 1 April, 18 10, he resigned. After leaving the 
army he seems to have gone to the Dubuque lead mines and traded 
in lead with the Indians (Bradbury, p. 225). He again joined 
the army, 30 August, 18 13, being appointed first lieutenant in the 
44th Infantry, and on i October, 18 14, he became captain. He 
was honorably discharged after the close of the war, on 15 June, 
1815. He then engaged in trade at Arkansas Post under the name 
of Pryor and Richards. How long he remained there is not known. 
James found him among the Osages in 1821, living as one of the 
tribe (see Chapter III). And he went that year to New Mexico 
with Glenn's party, apparently as a trapper (Fowler's Journal). 
Later he had a trading house on the Verdigris River among the 



250 Appendix 

Osages, where he was supplied with goods by Abraham Gallatin 
of St. Louis (a brother of Albert Gallatin). He died in 1831. His 
only estate was a small amount of money held for him by Governor 
Clark, much less than his debt to Gallatin. Pryor was a man of 
character and ability, but yielding to the fascination of the free 
life among the Indians he made no effective use of his talents. A 
stream in Montana and a creek and a town in Oklahoma bear his 
name. 

ARTICLES OF AGREEMENT, ST. LOUIS MISSOURI FUR 
COMPANY 

Articles of Association and Copartnership made and entered 
into by and between Benjamin Wilkinson, Pierre Chouteau, senior, 
Manuel Lisa, Augustin Chouteau, junior, Reuben Lewis, William 
Clark and Sylvestre Labbadie all of the town of St. Louis and 
Territory of Louisiana, and Pierre Menard and William Morrison 
of the town of Kaskaskia in the Territory of Indiana, and also 
Andrew Henry of Louisiana, for the purposes of trading and hunt- 
ing up the river Missouri and to the head waters thereof or at 
such other place or places as a majority of the subscribing co-part- 
ners may elect, viz: 

Article ist. This association shall be called and known by the 
style & firm of the St. Louis Missouri fur Company; each mem- 
ber of which shall sign and subscribe these articles of association, 
and shall be bound to furnish for the joint benefit of the company 
to compose the outfits requisite for such expedition, and generally 
to pay equal proportions of all and every expenses whatsoever, 
which may be deemed expedient by the aforesaid majority of the 
company in order to carry on the above mentioned objects of trad- 
ing and hunting. 

Article 2nd. Each member of the association shall be obliged to 
accompany the expedition in person or to send some person or per- 
sons, to be approved of by a majority of the company; and each 
member of the company failing to do so, shall pay the sum of five 
hundred dollars per annum for the benefit of and to be divided 
amongst such of the co-partners as may accompany the expedition. 

Article 3d. Each partner binds and obliges himself to do every 
thing which may be in his power for the joint benefit of the com- 
pany during the period of time fixed upon for the existence of 



Appendix 251 

these articles of association; to refrain from trading directly or 
indirectly with all and every party or nations of Indians or the 
men employed by the company contrary to the true spirit and 
meaning of these articles of co-partnership or contrary to the joint 
interest and benefit of the company. And it is expressly agreed 
and understood that if any member of the company shall during 
the existence of these articles, be discovered or known to traffic or 
trade for his own separate or individual interest or contrary to the 
true spirit and meaning of these articles of association he shall not 
only forfeit & pay for the joint benefit of the Company all his por- 
tion of the stock and profits but also to be forever thereafter ex- 
cluded from the Company. Provided however that a majority of 
all the members agree to such forfeiture and expulsion. 

Article 4th. No member of this Company shall during the ex- 
istence of these articles be permitted to traffic or trade with any 
party or nation of Indians, nor with any other nation or descrip- 
tion of men whatsoever at or above the Mandane nation of In- 
dians or their towns, villages or usual places of residence for his 
or their separate and individual profit, nor contrary to the true 
intent and meaning of these articles, and that a breach of this 
article shall subject the party offending to the same penalties for 
the same uses, and also to expulsion as specified in the last preced- 
ing article. 

Article 5th. And whereas the above named Manuel Lisa, Pierre 
Menard and William Morrison were lately associated in a trading 
expedition up the said River Missouri and have now a fort estab- 
lished on the waters of the Yellow Stone river, a branch of the 
Missoury, at which said fort they have as is alleged by them a 
quantity of Merchandise and also a number of horses. 

Now therefore it is agreed that this Company is to accept from 
them the said Manuel Lisa, Pierre Menard & William Morrison 
all the merchandise they may have on hand at the time the first 
expedition to be sent up by this Company shall arrive at said fort. 
Provided however that the same is not then dammaged, and if the 
same or any part thereof should be dammaged then the company 
shall only be bound to receive such parts and parcels thereof as 
may be fit for trading or such parts as may not be dammaged, and 
for the whole or such parts thereof as may be received by a ma- 
jority of the other members of this company then present this com- 



252 Appendix 

pany is to allow and pay them the said Manuel Lisa, Pierre Menard 
& William Morrison one hundred per centum of the first cost. 

Article 6th. The present company is also bound to receive from 
said Manuel Lisa, Pierre Menard & William Morrison the num- 
ber of thirty eight horses which it is alleged had been left by them 
at said fort when Manuel Lisa took his departure from there or so 
many of said Horses as a majority of the other members of this 
Company then present may approve of, and to allow and pay them 
the sum of thirty dollars for each Horse so approved of and ac- 
cepted. This Company is also bound to receive from them the said 
Manuel Lisa, Pierre Menard & William Morrison such other 
Horses the number and quality of which to be approved of in like 
manner as may have been purchased by their agent for them at 
said fort, at the time the aforesaid expedition shall arrive there 
and which may then be delivered for which this Company is to 
allow any pay them the first cost of the merchandise paid for said 
Horses and also one hundred per centum on the first cost thereof. 

Article 7th. All the Horses purchased by the agent of said 
Manuel Lisa, Pierre Menard & William Morrison since the depar- 
ture of Manuel Lisa from said fort, for money or Peltry, and which 
shall be accepted and approved of as aforesaid are to be received 
by this Company at first cost to be paid said Manuel Lisa, Pierre 
Menard & William Morrison. 

Article 8. Every person approved of & accepted as above men- 
tioned to act as the agents of any absent member of this Company 
shall always be subject to the orders of a majority of the Com- 
pany then present, and on refusal so to do shall thereupon be dis- 
charged and the Partner for whom he acted, shall be bound to pay 
the same sum of money annually as those who neither attend the 
expedition in person nor furnish an agent, the time to be com- 
puted from the time such agent shall be discharged. Which said 
annual sum shall also be for the exclusive benefit of such mem- 
bers of the Company as may be with the expedition. 

Article 9th. When the aforesaid expedition shall arrive at or 
above the Mandan nation of Indians, each partner accompanying 
the expedition shall be bound to proceed to & reside at such post 
or places as may be designated for him by a majority of the Com- 
pany then present and also when there to do and perform as far 
as may be possible all those duties required of him by such ma- 
jority of the Company. Each member failing to comply with this 



Appendix 253 

article shall be bound to forfeit and pay to the Company one thou- 
sand Dollars per annum to be computed from the time of the first 
breach of this article in each year untill he shall comply with the 
aforesaid duties required of him by such majority. 

Article loth. The members of this association having contracted 
with his Excellency governor Lewis to convey the chief of the Man- 
dan Indians now at St. Louis to his nation: It is hereby agreed 
that Pierre Chouteau senior shall have the command and complete 
control of this present expedition: to have the full direction of the 
march ; to have the command of such officers as may be appointed 
under him; to point out their duties and give each officer his com- 
mand agreeably to rank — so far as the company is bound by the 
aforesaid contract with the Executive to observe Military Disci- 
pline. 

Article nth. Manuel Lisa and Benjamin Wilkinson are hereby 
appointed factors to trade with the Indians or men employed by 
the Company, they shall keep just and fair accounts of all their 
Company transactions subject to the inspection of the Company or 
any member of the Company at all times, to use their utmost in- 
dustry, skill and knowledge for the benefit of the company, to make 
purchases of peltry and merchandise, to engage men and draw 
bills of exchange on the agent of the Company hereinafter men- 
tioned residing at St. Louis for such purchases & engagements to 
the full amount of the funds which such agent may have in his 
hands belonging to the Company and at that time unappropriated 
by the Company. 

Article i2th. No purchases of Merchandise are to be made with- 
out the consent and approbation of a majority of the Company. 

Article 13th. The above mentioned factors are to continue as 
such during their pleasure or that of a Majority of the company 
and to be subject to no responsability except for personal neglect 
or willful waste of the goods or property they may have in charge 
or possession. 

Article 14th. William Clark is hereby appointed agent of this 
company to reside at the Town of Saint Louis. He is to receive all 
Peltries, furs, monies or other property sent or delivered to him by 
the Company or any member thereof; and the same to keep & pre- 
serve in the best manner he can for the interest of the company, 
untill the same shall be divided, and for the preservation and keep- 
ing of said Peltries, furs or other property of the company the said 



254 Appendix 

agent shall be paid and allowed all necessary expenditures made 
by him. 

Article 15th. Whenever any Peltries, furs or other property be- 
longing to the company shall be sent down and delivered to said 
agent, the same shall be (as speedily thereafter as may be) divided 
equally between all the partners, and their respective proportions 
paid to them or their agents on demand. 

Article 16th. Should the company or a Majority thereof deem 
it expedient to purchase a greater quantity of Merchandize, or en- 
gage a greater number of men than may at any time be had on 
hand or engaged, the aforesaid agent is to purchase the said Mer- 
chandize and engage the men on the best possible terms, for the 
interest of the Company, always having regard to the Inventories 
of such articles as may from time to time be forwarded to him by 
the aforesaid factors, for all of which said purchases of merchan- 
dize or engagement of men each member of the Company shall be 
bound to pay an equal part of the expense. 

Article 17th. It is agreed that Pierre Chouteau senior, Manuel 
Lisa and Pierre Menard are to be thefirst of the co-partners accom- 
panjing the expedition who will be permitted to return to St. 
Louis. They will however each be bound under the penalty men- 
tioned in the Second article either personally to return to their 
respective posts or join the expedition up the river during the 
Spring succeeding their arrival at Saint Louis; or to send an Agent 
as is also provided in the Second article; to act in their place — 
and in ascertaining the amount of forfeitures for a breach of this 
article the time shall be computed from the arrival of the party at 
the Town of St, Louis ; which said forfeitures shall also be ap- 
plied & appropriated as is provided in the aforesaid Second ar- 
ticle. 

Article i8th. Benjamin Wilkinson & Augustus Chouteau Junior 
are to be the next members of this Company accompanying the 
expedition who will be permitted to return to Saint Louis subject 
to the same provisions as are Contained in the preceding article 
and those of Article Second. 

Article 19. No person shall hereafter be admitted to become a 
member of this company unless by the unanimous consent of every 
partner. 

Article 20th. The foregoing articles of association and Co part- 
nership are to have eflFect and continue in force for and to the full 



Appendix 255 

end and expiration of the term of three years from and after the 
date hereof, subject to such alterations as a majority of the Com- 
pany may deem necessary. 

In testimony of which we & each of us have hereunto subscribed 
our names at the Town of St. Louis this seventh day of March 
eighteen hundred & nine — interlined in tenth line from beginning 
before signed, and also Dennis fitzhugh of Louisville Kentucky. 

Signed in presence of Pre Chouteau 

Meriwether Lewis Manuel Lisa 

Requier Ben Wilkinson 

Stre Labbadie 
A. P. Chouteau 
Ben Wilkinson for Reuben Lewis 

Wm Clark. 
Manuel Lisa pr Pierre Menard 
Manuel Lisa pr William Morrison 
Andrew Henry 

Article 21. Previous to the division of the Peltry fur and other 
property mentioned in article 15 all expenditure of whatever nature 
incurred by the Company previous to said Division shall first be 
deducted from the gross amount of Property to be divided as speci- 
fied in said article. 

Article 22. William Clark & Pierre Chouteau or either of them 
in the absence of the others are hereby appointed and fully author- 
ized by the Company to sign and execute all notes, bills, obligations, 
receipts discharges & acquittances for and in behalf of the Company. 

Meriwether Lewis Pre Chouteau 

Requier Manuel Lisa 

Ben Wilkinson 
A P Chouteau 
Manuel Lisa Pr Pre Menard 
Manuel Lisa pr William Morrison 
Ben Wilkinson for Reuben Lewis 
Andrew Henry Stre Labbadie 

two interlineations approved 




256 Appendix 

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF THE PARTNERS IN THE 
FUR COMPANY 



.Benjamln Wilkin- 
son' was a son of 
General Joseph Wil- 
kinson, of Maryland, and a nephew of General James Wilkinson. 
He entered the army at an early age and was commissioned second 
lieutenant of the Third Infantry 16 February 1801, promoted to 
first lieutenant 15 January 1803, and resigned 30 November 1803. 
He came to St. Louis in 1805, and entered into partnership with 
Risdon H. Price, who was also from Maryland, under the name of 
Wilkinson and Price. 

They conducted a sutler's store at Fort Bellefontaine, and also did 
business in St. Louis, where they advertised, in July 1808, that they 
would pay cash for bills of exchange on the government. 

Wilkinson was in August 1808 elected captain of a St. Louis com- 
pany of Volunteers for defence against the Indians. He was active 
in promoting the Fur Company, but did not go up the river. He 
died at sea in December, 1809, on his way from St. Louis to Balti- 
more, <via New Orleans. His estate was administered upon in St. 
Louis by his kinsman Walter Wilkinson. 

PIERRE CHOUTEAU was born at New Orleans 10 October 1758. 
He came to St. Louis in September 1764 and died there 10 July, 1849. 
He was a half brother of Colonel Auguste Chouteau. Pierre Chou- 
teau at an early age engaged with his brother in trade with the 
Osages, and in 1795 was appointed lieutenant of militia and com- 
mandant of Fort Carondelet which was situated in what is now 
Vernon County, Missouri (Houck's Spanish Regime in Missouri, 
I. p. loi). In 1804, he was appointed by President Jefferson, 
United States Agent for the Osages, which position he held for 
many years. Victor Tixier, who met him in 1840, on a voyage 
from New Orleans to St. Louis, says: "Major Chouteau, to whom 
I was particularly recommended, showed me much care and at- 
tention. The Major is one of those men whose natural goodness 
is apparent in his physiognomy. He lived a long time on the 
prairies the life of the Osages. He was one of the best hunters of 
that nation, with which he was engaged in the fur trade." "To- 



Appendix 257 

day," said he, "since age is coming on, I rest from my labors; 
formerly I lost little time in the schools, and I acquired my educa- 
tion in the school of the Osages (a I'academie osage)." Voyage 
aux Prairies Osages. After his retirement he lived at St. Louis on 
his plantation near the present Fairground Park. His plantation 
home was a place to which all celebrities visiting St. Louis were 
taken, and in the books of travel of that day frequent mention of 
visits to him is made. Mr. Peyton who was his guest in 1848, 
when he was over ninety years old, tells of his quoting Horace in 
the original, which shows that not all of his education was obtained 
among the Osages. He served as chairman of the board of trus- 
tees of the village of St. Louis, and he was lieutenant, captain, and 
major in the Territorial militia ; which last title clung to him for 
the remainder of his life. He was twice married, first to Pelagic 
Kiersereau and second to Brigitte, daughter of Francois Saucier. 
He had nine children — eight sons and one daughter. 

MANUEL LISA was a son of Cristobal de Lisa, a native of 
Murcia in Spain, and Maria Ignacia Rodriguez, who was born at 
St. Augustine, Florida. Manuel was born in Lower Louisiana 
about 1776. He engaged in the Indian trade at an early age and 
made several voyages from New Orleans to the Wabash. He came 
to St. Louis in 1799, and engaged at first in the Osage trade of 
which he obtained a monopoly from the Spanish government. His 
first voyage up the Missouri was in 1807, and from that time until 
his untimely death in 1820, he was the recognized leader in the 
Missouri River trade. His influence with and control over the In- 
dians was very great, because, as he says, he treated them as 
friends and not as objects of pillage. He had many bitter enemies 
and some devoted friends. He was suspected and accused of wrong 
doing, but a study of his acts shows convincingly that these accu- 
sations were unfounded. 

He died in St. Louis 12 August, 1820. He was twice married 
among the whites, but his only living descendants are the children 
and grand children of his daughter Rosalie, whose mother was of 
the Omaha nation. Further particulars about him may be found in 
a sketch of his life in 3 Mo. Hist. Sac. Collections, pp. 233, 367. 

"His active and eventful life, his palatial residence of that day, 
his remarkable Indian acquaintance and his popularity [with the 
Indians], his very extensive fur trading establishment, and his 



258 Appendix 

character for probity and honor point him out as one of the great 
builders of the fame of St. Louis," (Shepard, The Early History 
of St. Louis and Missouri, 56.) 

AUGUSTE PIERRE CHOUTEAU was the eldest son of Pierre 
Chouteau and his first wife Pelagic Kierserau. He was born at 
St. Louis 9 May 1786, and died at his trading post and plantation 
at the Grand Saline on the Neosho river about fifty miles above 
Fort Gibson, in what is now Oklahoma, 25 December 1838. He 
was graduated from the United States Military Academy at West 
Point in June 1806, and appointed Ensign in the Second Infantry. 
He served on the south west frontier, threatened by a Spanish in- 
vasion from Texas, as aide-de-camp to General Wilkinson. He 
resigned from the army 13 January 1807. He commanded a trad- 
ing expedition up the Missouri River in 1807, which was accom- 
panied by a military detachment under the command of Ensign 
Nathaniel Pryor which was sent to carry the Mandan Chief She- 
haka to his home. They were attacked by the Arikaras, two of 
Chouteau's men were killed, and both parties driven back. Chou- 
teau went up the river again in 1809 with the party the story of 
whose adventures is here told by James. He returned to St. Louis 
in May, 1810. In the War of 1812 he served as captain in the 
Missouri Territorial Militia. In 1813 he was appointed Judge of 
the Court of Common Pleas by acting governor Bates, and took 
his seat on March i of that year, but does not appear to have con- 
tinued in service. In 1815 he and Jules de Mun of St. Louis fitted 
out an expedition to go to the head waters of the Arkansas River 
to trap beaver and to trade with the Arapahoes and neighboring 
Indians. They were successful until the spring of 1817, when they 
and their men were captured by the Spanish and taken to Santa 
Fe, where Chouteau and de Mun were put in irons and their prop- 
erty to the value of over $30,000 was confiscated. They were kept 
"in the dungeons of Santa Fe" for forty eight days when they 
were released and allowed to return home, "each with one of the 
worst horses we had." A claim for indemnity was made against 
the Spanish government, which was paid long after the death of 
both Chouteau and de Mun. 

After his return from New Mexico, Chouteau engaged in trade 
with the South-western Indians, maintaining an establishment on 
the Neosho River, one at Camp Holmes near the junction of the 



Appendix 259 

Little River with the Canadian, another on the Canadian near 
where is the present town of Norman, and another on the Cache 
River near the present town of Lawton. Nearly all of the trav- 
ellers through that country mentioned Col. Chouteau with great 
praise for his hospitality and courtesy. 

Latrobe says of him: "The Colonel whom we considered for the 
time being the head of the party, generally led the van, a fine, good 
humored, shrewd man, of French descent, with claims both to for- 
tune and family in Missouri. As our conductor, we were all be- 
holden to his courteous manners, and extensive information on 
every subject connected with the country and its red inhabitants, 
for much of our comfort and entertainment. In the pursuit of his 
profession of Indian trader, he had often dared captivity and death. 
Among the Osages, whose principal trader and organ with govern- 
ment he had long been, he was supposed, and I believe justly, to 
possess the greatest influence. In fact he had been brought up 
from his early boyhood, more or less in their camps, had hunted, 
feasted, fought with and for them, and was considered by them as 
a chief and a brother. From him we were glad to take our first 
lessons in hunting, camping and backwoodsman's craft, and en- 
joyed our first peep at that kind of life, which judging from his 
fine vigorous person, and the health shining on his sun-burned 
features, was, with all its hardships, congenial to health and good 
humor." (1832.) The Rambler in North America, New York, 
1835, Vol. I, p. 116. 

William Waldo says: "Of all the great house of Chouteau, 
Auguste'was the most brilliant and gifted. He was a favorite 
with General Jackson during his presidency, and was consulted by 
him more than was any other man in the United States upon all 
questions connected with the numerous Indian tribes. Two years 
before General Sam. Houston left the Cherokee country with the 
secret purpose of revolutionizing Texas, he, under the injunction 
of confidence, laid all his plans before his friend Colonel Chouteau 
and invited him to join in the enterprise. Chouteau, being then 
advanced in life, declined the proposition, but honorably kept the 
secret until after the independence of Texas had been accomplished. 
(Manuscript in archives of Missouri Historical Society.) 

Colonel Chouteau was serving as United States Indian Commis- 
sioner at the time of his death. He married at St. Louis 13 August 
1 8 14, according to the Church Register, his cousin Sophie, daughter 



26o Appendix 

of Sylvestre Labbadie, who, with one son and five daughters, sur- 
vived him. Col. Chouteau was buried in the garrison burying 
ground at Fort Gibson with full military honors. 

■^^■^•^^ Albemarle 

County, Virginia, 14 February, 1777, and died there in 1844. He 
was the only brother of Meriwether Lewis with whom he came to 
Missouri in 1807, when the latter assumed the Governorship of the 
Louisiana Territory. Reuben was appointed by his brother as sub- 
agent of Indian affairs, and as such was present at Fort Osage, 10 
November, 1808, when a treaty was made with the Osages. He 
became a partner in the St. Louis Missouri Fur Company and went 
up the river in 1809, and remained there, in command of one of 
the forts, until 1812. He was again appointed to the Indian De- 
partment, by Governor Clark, and served as agent at Arkansas 
for the Quapas and Cherokees. He left the service in 1820 and re- 
turned to Virginia, making his home on the family plantation near 
Charlottesville. He married, in 1822, his cousin Mildred Dabney. 

WILLIAM CLARK, son of John Clark and Ann Rogers, was 
born in Caroline County, Virginia, i August 1770, and died at St. 
Louis, I September 1838. 

In 1784, the Clark family removed to Kentucky and settled at 
Mulberry Hill near Louisville. By the time he was seventeen Wil- 
liam began to take part in defensive expeditions against the In- 
dians, and when he was twenty he was commissioned as ensign in 
the United States Army, and two years later he was first lieuten- 
ant. He served under General Wayne and was leader of a col- 
umn at the battle of Fallen Timbers. He retired from the Army 
in 1796, because of ill health. In 1803 he accepted the invitation 
of his friend Meriwether Lewis to join him in command of the 
projected exploring expedition to the Pacific Ocean, the story of 
the successful accomplishment of which is so familiar. On 12 
March 1807, about five months after his return, Clark was ap- 
pointed by Mr. Jefferson, superintendent of Indian affairs and brig- 
adier general of the militia of Louisiana Territory. His friend 
Lewis was at about the same time appointed governor of the Ter- 



Appendix 261 

ritory. Clark returned to St, Louis early in 1807, and made his 
home there for the remainder of his life. Through him, St. Louis 
became the center of activity in the dealings of the Federal gov- 
ernment with the Southern and Western Indians, and because of 
the color of his hair, it became known to all of the Indian nations 
as Red Head's town. 

In 1813, Clark was appointed governor of the Territory, the 
name of which had been changed from Louisiana to Missouri, and 
he continued to administer that office with great ability until the 
admission of Missouri as one of the United States in 1821. He 
continued as superintendent of Indian affairs to the day of his 
death, and no man was ever more successful than he in winning, 
and deserving the respect and trust of the aboriginal Americans. 
On 5 January 1808, General Clark married Julia, daughter of 
Colonel George Hancock of Fincastle, Virginia, in honor of whom 
he had, on his western expedition, given the name of Judith to the 
river now called the Big Horn. She died 27 June 1820, leaving 
him five children. He married, second, 28 November 1821, Mrs. 
Harriet Kennedy Radford, a cousin of his first wife, who died 25 
December 1831, having borne him two children. Clark made his 
home in St. Louis at the south east corner of Main and Vine 
Streets, where near his residence he erected a building which was 
used as an Indian council house and museum, and is frequently re- 
ferred to by visitors to St. Louis. Sometime before his death, how- 
ever, he lived with his son, Meriwether Lewis Clark, whose house 
stood at the south east corner of Olive Street and Broadway, where, 
on the Bank of Commerce building occupying the site, a tablet has 
been placed in his honor. 

Of the many sketches of the life of Governor Clark, the most 
satisfactory, perhaps, is that by the late Reuben Gold Thwaites 
which appears in 2 Missouri Historical Society Collections at page i. 

SYLVESTRE LABBADIE (in his later years he spelled the name 
Labadie), son of Sylvestre Labbadie and Pelagie Chouteau, was 
born in St. Louis, 19 February, 1779. His father died when he was 
fifteen years old. No record is found of his occupations during his 
youth, but he no doubt engaged in the Indian trade, with his kins- 
men, the Chouteaus, and he served with them in the milicia in 
which he attained the rank of Major. 



262 Appendix 

In 1800 he petitioned Governor de Lassus for a grant of land 
in what is now Franklin County, "wishing to form a permanent 
establishment free from the misfortunes to which one is exposed on 
account of the precarious state of commerce in this country." The 
grant was made, covering nearly fourteen thousand acres of land 
on the south shore of the Missouri River, and the title was after- 
wards confirmed to him, by the United States. Unlike most of the 
owners of Spanish grants, he lived long enough to receive the con- 
firmation to himself; most of the confirmations were made to the 
assignees or to the heirs of the grantee. The tradition is, that re- 
turning from a trading expedition, his further progress was pre- 
vented by ice forming in the river, and that he camped for the 
winter on the site of his subsequent grant. The present town of 
Labbadie is situated upon this land, as is also Point Labbadie on 
the river. In 1806 or 1807 he joined with Auguste P. Chouteau in 
out fitting Ramsay Crooks and Robert McClellan for a trading voy- 
age up the river. 

In 1809, Labbadie went with the expedition chronicled in this 
book, returning to St. Louis in the Summer of 1810. Though he 
retained his connection with the company for several years, there 
is no record of his having taken part in any later expedition. He 
engaged in business in St. Louis, and had a mercantile establish- 
ment at the north east corner of Main and Chestnut streets. In 
18 1 8, he built the first saw mill in St. Louis. It was situated on the 
Mississippi near the present foot of Ashley street; the power was 
furnished by oxen walking upon the side of an inclined wheel. 
Subsequently he added a flour mill to the plant. Being possessed 
of great wealth, he retired early from business. 

He died in St. Louis, at his home on Olive between Fifth and 
Sixth streets, 25 July, 1849, and it was said of him, after his death, 
"that he never failed in his duties as a citizen, a husband or 
friend." 

Mr. Labbadie married 16 August, 1806, his cousin Victoire, 
daughter of Charles Gratiot and Victoire Chouteau, they had three 
children, two of whom died in infancy. A daughter, Virginie, mar- 
ried Captain Joseph A. Sire, and died 22 September 1828, aged 
twenty j'ears. 

Mrs. Labbadie died 5 May i860, aged seventy five years. 



Appendix 



263 



PIERRE MENARD was born 7 October 1766, at Saint Antoine 
upon the River Richelieu in the Province of Quebec, and died 13 
June 1844, at Kaskaskia. His father, Jean Baptiste Menard dit 
Brindamour, was a native of Languedoc in France, and his 
mother, Marie Frangois Ciree dit St. Michel, was a native of Can- 
ada, her grandparents having removed there from Paris. 

Pierre Menard was in Vincennes in 1787, in the employ of Col. 
Vigo. In 1789 he accompanied Vigo to Pennsylvania where they 
had an interview with Washington. He subsequently removed 
from Vincennes to Kaskaskia where he was married 13 June 1792 
to Therese Godin, then nineteen years of age, daughter of Michel 
Godin dit Touranjeau and Therese St. Gemme Beauvais. She died 
in 1804, leaving four children. Menard married, second, 22 Sep- 
tember 1806, Angelique Saucier, daughter of Frangois Saucier and 
Angelique Roy dit Lapensee. She died in 1839 leaving six chil- 
dren. He held many military and civil offices; among them he was 
lieutenant colonel of the Territorial militia, judge of the Court of 
Common Pleas, United States Indian Agent, Commissioner, in con- 
junction with Lewis Cass, to treat with the Indians, and Lieuten- 
ant Governor of Illinois. To make him eligible for the latter office 
a special provision was inserted in the State Constitution of 1818. 
For the voyage up the Missouri in 1809, Governor Meriwether 
Lewis commissioned him captain of infantry on special service. 

In his early days Colonel Menard, as he was usually known, 
was an active Indian trader. Later he acquired great land hold- 
ings and was the grand seigneur of South-western Illinois and 
South-east Missouri. His home at Kaskaskia was the abiding place 
of all distinguished visitors to this part of the country and his hos- 
pitality was unbounded. 



William Morrison was born in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, 
14 March 1763, and died at Kaskaskia, Illinois, 19 April 1837. He 



264 Appendix 

was a son of John Morrison and Rebecca Bryan. John Morrison, 
son of Sir John Morrison, was born at Middletown, County Cork, 
Ireland in 1729; he came to America in his early manhood settling 
in Bucks County, where he married Rebecca Bryan, 5 August 1760. 
Just when William Morrison came to Illinois is not known, but 
he was there before i August 1790, and he became soon after his 
arrival one of the most influential and conspicuous citizens of the 
country. 

Governor Reynolds says of him, "Dignity and polish of man- 
ners seemed to be natural to him. Nothing little or cramped ex- 
isted in his character. His mind and impulses were fashioned on 
a large scale. He was not only kind and benevolent in all his 
relations with society, but also honest and upright. By his great 
activity and sound judgment, he was the head and front of almost 
all the commercial operations of Illinois and upper Louisiana during 
a long series of years. 

He was associated with his uncle, Guy Bryan of Philadelphia, 
in merchandising, and the firm of Bryan and Morrison was known 
throughout the west as one of great wealth and honorable standing- 
Bryan himself did not operate in the West; so that his partner, 
Morrison had the control of all the commercial business of this vast 
region of country. The business of this house extended from Kas- 
kaskia around to Pittsburgh, New Orleans, Prairie du Chien, and 
the Rocky Mountains, and William Morrison was the master spirit 
that managed and conducted all these vast mercantile transactions 
to a successful termination." He was the first citizen of the United 
States to essay the opening of trade with New Mexico; the story 
of his sending Baptiste Lalande to Santa Fe in 1804, is told by 
Pike, and repeated by all subsequent writers on New Mexican his- 
tory. He also took part with Lisa and Menard in the expedition 
up the Missouri in 1807. Mr. Morrison was married three times, 
first, to Catherine Thaumur dit Lasource, who was a descendant 
of a well known Canadian family, one of whom was in Illinois in 
the early years of the eighteenth Century. 

Guillaume, a son of this marriage, was baptized at Kaskaskia 
7 June 1795. The second wife was Euphrosine Huberdeau, of Ste. 
Genevieve, whom he married 27 November 1798, and the third, 
Elisa, daughter of General Daniel Bissell whom he married at St. 
Louis, 20 July 1813. There were children by each marriage, and 
one of his daughters died recently in St. Louis. He built a home 
in Kaskaskia (a large stone building), and maintained an estab- 



Appendix 265 

lishment which rivalled Colonel Menard's in hospitality. It is said 
that the Indians gave him the name Wau-kom-ia, because he 
diluted his liquor with water before drinking it, a practice which 
was not to their taste. 

Morrison was followed to the West by his brothers, Robert, 
James, Jesse, Samuel and Guy, all of whom were vigorous, eflFec- 
tive men and leading citizens. Many descendants of the Morri- 
son's are living in Missouri, Illinois, California and elsewhere. 

Samuel Morrison (mentioned ante on page i6) came to Kaskaskia 
in 1807. He spent some years in the Rocky Mountains as a clerk of 
Manuel Lisa's Company; he returned in 1811, married shortly after- 
wards, and settled in Covington, Washington County, Illinois, where 
he died in 1828. It is said that an unfortunate love affair caused him 
to seek forgetfulness in the wilderness. 



f^a^u-y:^Z 



JDREW Henry, son of George 
Henry and Margaret Young, 
/ was born in York County, Penn- 

sylvania, about 1775. He first came to Upper Louisiana in April 
1800, seemingly by way of Tennessee, since George Breckenridge, 
in his note book, says that after two years he returned to Nashville. 
Henry came again to Ste. Genevieve in 1803, and after some time 
went to the mining district in what is now Washington County 
where he made his home. He married, 16 December, 1805, Marie, 
daughter of Louis Dubreuil Villars and Marie Louise Valle. Wil- 
liam H. Ashley was one of the witnesses to the marriage. Henry 
separated from his wife 3 January, 1806, and divorced her 15 
October, 1807. He went up the river with the Fur Company's ex- 
pedition of 1809, and commanded the party which crossed the 
mountains and wintered in what is now Idaho, on the branch of 
Snake River which has since been known as Henry's Fork. He 
returned to St. Louis in the Fall of 1811. In 1814 he was major of 
the Washington County regiment of which William H. Ashley 
was lieutenant colonel commanding. In 1822 he again engaged in 
the fur trade, this time with his friend Ashley. He ascended the 
river in command of a party of about one hundred men, leaving 
St. Louis in April 1822. He established a post at the mouth of the 
Yellowstone where he spent the winter. The next spring he made 
a trip to the westward and was attacked and defeated near Great 
Falls by his old antagonists, the Blackfeet. Upon his return to his 
post he was summoned to reinforce Ashley who had been defeated 



266 Appendix 

by the Arikaras. Henry joined Ashley in July and remained 
with him until after the fiasco of Colonel Leavenworth's punitive 
expedition against the Arikaras in August. After Leavenworth's 
retirement Henry with a party of eighty men went again to the 
westward and erected a post at the mouth of the Bighorn River, 
and discovered, near the source of that river, the South Pass 
through the mountains. On this expedition, Hugh Glass, one of 
Henr3''s men, had the adventure with a grizzly bear made famous 
by Glass' marvellous escape from death after being abandoned by 
his comrades. In the summer of 1824 Henry came down to St. 
Louis with the furs which had been accumulated, and while here 
he enlisted a number of men with whom he went back up the river 
in October. The next we hear of him he is at his home in Wash- 
ington County; his place in Ashley's company being taken by Jed- 
ediah S. Smith. For the remainder of his life Henry gave his at- 
tention to mining. At one time he was a large land owner, but 
little of the land was held by him at the time of his death. He 
was married a second time in 18 19 to Mary, daughter of Patrick 
Fleming of Ste. Genevieve. They had five children, Jane, Patrick, 
Mary, George and Missouri, all of whom survived their father 
except Missouri who died in infancy. Henry died at his residence 
in Harmony Township, Washington County, 10 June, 1833. "He 
was a man much respected for his honesty, intelligence and enter- 
prise," but the tradition still lingers that "he was his own worst 
enemy." 

CONTRACT TO CONVEY THE M AND AN CHIEF 
TO HIS HOME 

Articles of Agreement Made and Indented at the Town of Saint 
Louis in the Territory of Louisiana the Twenty fourth day of Feb- 
ruary in the Year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and 
Nine by and between His Excellency Meriwether Lewis Governor 
of the said Territory of Louisiana, and Superintendent of Indian 
affairs within the same, for and on behalf of the United States of 
America, on the one part, and the Undersigned members of and 
belonging to the Saint Louis Missouri Fur Company of the other 
part. 

Witnesseth, that the said Company for and in consideration of 
the articles, stipulations and conditions hereinafter contained on 
the part of the said Meriwether Lewis, have covenanted and 
agreed, and do hereby covenant and agree to and with the said 



Appendix 267 

Lewis, his successor in office, heirs, Executors, and Assigns, to and 
for the sole use behoof and benefit of the said United States, as fol- 
lows, To-wit. 

First. — To Engage and raise one Hundred and Twenty five 
effective men (of whom Forty shall be Americans and expert Rifle 
men) who together shall form a body of Militia of this Territory, 
and act in a Military capacity, on an expedition from the said 
Town of Saint Louis, to the Mandan Villages, on the River Mis- 
souri, for the safe conveyance and delivery of the Mandan Chief 
his Wife and Child, to the Mandan nation. The members of 
which body thus raised for the purpose aforesaid shall be ap- 
proved by the Governor of this Territory. 

Second. — The said Company shall furnish the said detachment 
for the aforesaid expedition, with good and suitable Fire arms, of 
which Fifty at least shall be Rifles, and a sufficient quantity of 
good ammunition, the quantity and quality of all which shall be 
approved by the Governor of this Territory. 

Third. — The command of the said detachment shall be given to 
Peter Choteau, the United States Agent for the Osage nation of 
Indians (who will be specially commissioned and instructed by the 
Governor for that purpose) until the said expedition shall arrive 
at the Mandan nation or Villages, and at that place or the last of 
them, the military functions of the said Choteau, and the officers 
appointed under him for this service shall cease and expire. 

Fourth. — The said Company shall provide comfortable, and suit- 
able accommodations on board of Covered Barges, for the said 
Mandan Chief, his Wife and Child, and for Jesson (the Inter- 
preter) his Wife and child, and shall furnish them and each of 
them with a sufficiency of Good and Wholesome Provisions for 
their and each of their consumption, from the day of their em- 
barkation, until their arrival at the Mandan nation — the said ac- 
commodations in this article mentioned, to be approved by the 
Governor of this Territory. 

Fifth. — The said Company shall also provide and furnish ac- 
commodations in some of their Barges or Boats, for Two other 
Interpreters, and transport them therein as far as the said Peter 
Choteau Agent as aforesaid shall direct, and shall also furnish 
them with a sufficiency of good and wholesome provisions for 
their consumption, so long as they shall continue with the said 
Company. The said accommodations to be approved of, and the 



268 Appendix 

Interpreters to be such as shall be for that purpose selected by the 
Governor aforesaid. 

Sixth, — The said Company shall safely deliver the said Mandan 
Chief, his wife and Child, Jesson (the Interpreter) his Wife and 
Child, at the said Mandan Village, as soon as practicable after 
the departure of the said intended Expedition from Saint Louis, 
and shall defend them from all War like and other attacks, by 
force of arms, and every other means to the extent of their power, 
and at the risque of the lives of the said detachment, and shall 
moreover use and employ their and each of their diligent exertions 
for the health, preservation and safety of the said Mandan Chief, 
his Wife and Child, Jesson (the Interpreter) his Wife and Child, 
and for preventing of any accidents to them, each and all of them 
— and if unfortunately, the said Mandan Chief, his Wife and 
Child, Jesson (the Interpreter) his Wife and Child, or all or 
either of them, should by any unavoidable accident or the death 

fail to be 
of all or either of them be prevented from boing transported 
to the said Mandan Village, not by reason or through the fault, 
neglect, omission, want of care, or want of defence on the part of 
the said Company and detachment, the same being sufficiently 
proven to the Government of the United States, or to the partic- 
ular officer or person charged and authorized to that effect, then 
the said sum of Seven thousand dollars herein after mentioned, 
shall be fully paid as is herein stipulated. If, on the contrary, the 
said Mandan Chief, his Wife and Child, Jesson his Wife and 
Child, should not be by the said Company safely delivered at the 
Mandan Nation or Village through the fault, omission, neglect or 
want of defence on the part of the said detachment, then the said 
Company shall not be entitled to the sum of Seven thousand dol- 
lars herein after covenanted to be paid nor any part thereof; and 
all sum or sums of money by the said Lewis advanced to the said 
company by reason of this agreement, shall in the latter case, be 
by the said Company refunded and paid to the said Lewis, his suc- 
cessor in office, heirs, executors or assigns, on request — for the use 
and benefit of the United States. 

Seventh. — The said Company shall cause the said Expedition, 
and detachment to Embark and Start from Saint Louis aforesaid, 
on or before the Twentieth day of April next, and to proceed with 
all convenient and necessary speed to the place of destination — 



Appendix 269 

and in case of any unforeseen accident, preventing the same be- 
fore or on that day then the said expedition, shall without any pre- 
tense of delay whatsoever embark, start and proceed as aforesaid, 
on or before the Tenth day of May then next, under the penalty for 
default thereof of paying to the said Lewis, his successor in of- 
fice, Heirs, Executors or Assigns, to and for the sole use behoof 
and benefit of the said United States, the sum of three thousand 
dollars; lawful money of the United States. 

Eighth. — The said Company shall safely convey such Goods, 
Wares Merchandizes Articles and Utensils as the Governor of the 
Territory shall deem necessary to send as Presents to the Indians 
up the Missouri, either by the said Agent Peter Chouteau, or by 
the said Mandan Chief. 

Ninth. — The said Company shall immediately after the safe ar- 
rival at the Mandan Village of the said Mandan Chief his Wife 
and Child, the said Jesson, his Wife and Child dispatch a Mes- 
senger to the Governor of this Territory, with a written report 
giving him information thereof. 

And the said Meriwether Lewis, for and on behalf of the said 
United States, and for and in consideration of the articles, con- 
ditions, stipulations and covenants herein before contained on the 
part of the said members of the Saint Louis Missouri Fur Company, 
doth hereby promise and covenant to and with the said Company 
their Heirs & Assigns as follows, To-wit — 

First. — To pay to the said Company, their assigns, certain attor- 
ney or attorneys or to their authorized agent the sum of Seven 
thousand dollars lawful money of the United States, the one moiety 
or half part thereof on the request of the said Company, or a ma- 
jority of the members thereof after the said detachment is fully 
formed, completed, armed, furnished and equipped to the approba- 
tion of the Governor of this Territory, and the remaining moiety, 
or half part, when information as aforesaid shall have been received 
from the said Company by the said Governor, that the stipulations 
and covenants herein before contained on the part of said Company 
have been fully, completely and bona fide performed and fulfilled. 

Second. — The said Lewis shall not before the last day fixed 

authorize 
herein for the departure of said expedition, Liccnoo or porm k- 
any other person or persons to ascend the Missouri any higher or 
further up said River than the mouth of the River La Platte, for 



270 Appendix 

the purpose of Trading with the Indians. Nor permit any party 
accompanying the said detachment or any other party, to ascend 
the River, go before or in advance of the said detachment com- 
manded by said Choteau from the mouth of the said River La 
Platte, to the Mandan Village. 

And it is further mutually understood, agreed and covenanted by 
and between the parties aforesaid, that in the absence of the Gov- 
ernor of this Territory, the direction and approbation of General 
William Clarke of Saint Louis in all matters and things in which 
the direction and approbation of the said Governor is required in 
this agreement, shall be as good, effectual and binding on the par- 
ties aforesaid, as if the same were given by the said Governor of 
this Territory personally. 

For the true and faithful performance of each and every of the 
Conditions, Covenants, and Stipulations, herein before contained 
the said parties respectively, do hereby jointly and severally bind 
themselves, their Heirs, Executors, Administrators and Assigns each 
to the other in the penal sum of Ten thousand dollars lawful 
money of the United States. 

In Witness Whereof the parties aforesaid have hereunto inter- 
changeably set their hands and Seals, the day and Year and place 
first before written. 

Signed sealed and delivered in 
presence of - - - - 
the words "be prevented from 
being" in the sixth article on the 
second page being first erased, 
and the words "fail to be" In- 
terlined at the same place, and 
the word "Permit" in the second 
article on the third page erased 
and the word "authorized" in- 
terlined before signing. 

Wm. Clark 

E. Hempstead ' 

(Eight wafer and paper seals attached along right margin) 



[eriwether Lewis 


(Seal) 


Pre Chouteau 


(Seal) 


Manuel Lisa 


(Seal) 


Wm Morrison 


(Seal) 


Ben Wilkinson 


(Seal) 


A. P. Chouteau 


(Seal) 




(Seal) 




(Seal) 



Appendix 271 

CONTRACT BETWEEN THE FUR COMPANY AND 
THOMAS JAMES 

Articles of Contract and agreement, this Day entered Into be- 
tween Benjn Wilkinson Agent for the St. Louis Missouri fur Com- 
pany of the one Part and Thomas James of the St. Louis District of 
the other part, Witnesseth, That the said Thomas James has this 
day engaged, promised and bound himself, and does by these pres- 
ents engage, promise and bind himself to do and perform all and 
singular the services that may be required of him by the said Com- 
pany in the prosecution of a voyage from St, Louis to the Head 
Waters of the Missouri, or to other Places on the Waters of said 
River Missouri, and to obey do and perform all Duties and lawfull 
Commands required of him the said Thomas James by such Person 
or Persons as have the management or command of the embarkation 
or expedition up the said River, among which Duties and Lawful 
Commands the following are recited, to wit — that the said Thomas 
James is to present himself in proper Person at the town of St. Louis 
at such Periods as the Company may deem Proper ready and pre- 
pared to commence said Voyage — that he is to labor and assist in 
the transportation of baggage, loading and unloading of Boats, row- 
ing, towing and all other things connected with or relating to the 
safe and secure passage of Men, Baggage, Merchandise or other 
things from the town of St. Louis to the Head Waters of the said 
River, that on his Arrival there he is to Labor in trapping, hunting 
and collecting Furs, meats. Peltries, and to the best of his abilities, 
skill and cunning, and is to remain with said Company or to be re- 
moved by the said Company from place to place on the said Wa- 
ters of the Missouri as may be deemed most to their advantage — al- 
ways in case of a removal to assist in transporting baggage, mer- 
chandise &c., and finally is bound to do and perform all those things 
which men engaged under similar Circumstances and with the 
same Views, are bound to do and perform, obeying and exe- 
cuting with promptness all Lawful and reasonable orders which may 
be given him by those Persons who command the expedition, and the 
said Benjn Wilkinson in the Name and on behalf of the St. Louis 
Missouri Fur Company does covenant with the said Thomas James 
as follows to wit — that the said Thomas James shall be furnished 
with four men and the necessary Equipment for himself and four 
men for hunting and trapping and to allow him as full compensa- 



272 Appendix 

tion one equal fifth part of his and the four men's hunt, this con- 
tract to continue for the term of three years, unless sooner dis- 
charged by the Company. 

All which the contracting Parties aforesaid promise to do and per- 
form under the penalty of Five Hundred Dollars, if either party 
shall break this Contract. 

St. Louis March 29th 1809. 

Thomas James. 
Test Benjamin Wilkinson 

Jno A. Graham. Agent for the said Company. 

LIST OF DESERTERS 



I 


William Ferguson, 


17 


Henry Oldrldge, 


2 


Joseph T. Willey, 


18 


John Blye, 


3 


J. Crump, 


19 


John Davis, 


4 


John Sluman, 


20 


Joseph Manseard, 


5 


Richard Windsor, 


21 


Charles Bourguion, 


6 


Warren White, 


22 


Nicolas Brazeau, 


7 


John Ferguson, 


23 


Joseph Richard, 


8 


Dennis Cochran, 


24 


Joseph Guibeau (or Gui- 


9 


Moise Lemire, 




bault) dit Parisien, 


10 


Frangois Hebert, 


25 


Frangois St. Michel, 


11 


Joseph Casse, 


26 


Louis Baril, 


12 


Michel Arnois, 


27 


Nathan Fisher, 


13 


John Collins, 


28 


James Shields, 


14 


John Burk, 


29 


Nathan Shields, 


15 


Peter Fite, 


30 


Christopher Tool, 


16 


Isaac Mallot, 


31 


Richard Ware, 




Discharged Because 


of Disability or Incompetency 


1 


William Montgomery, 


6 


Bte. Janis, 


2 


Daniel Converse, 


7 


Joseph Morris, 


3 


John Stubblefield, 


8 


Frangois Tison, 


4 


B. La Becasse, 


9 


John Bellair, 


5 


Zacharia Malin, 







Most of these men had obtained advances from the Company: the 
total amount of their indebtedness was about thirty seven hundred 
dollars. Some of them stole the canoe, which Lisa says, "was for 
the purpose of getting provisions for our men, and the safeguard 



Appendix 273 

of the expedition." Two of the deserters, Richard Windsor and 
John Collins, were men who had crossed the continent with Lewis 
and Clark. A man named John Collins was with Ashley, and was 
killed in the fight with the Arikaras, 2 June 1823. 

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF RAMSAY CROOKS 

RAMSAY CROOKS, son of William Crooks and Margaret Ram- 
say, was born at Greenock, Scotland, 2 January, 1787, and died in 
New York, 6 June, 1859. He crossed the ocean to Canada in 1803, 
and came to St. Louis in 1805 or 1806. He and Robert McClellcn 
undertook a trading voyage up the river, having been outfitted by 
Sylvestre Labbadie and Auguste P. Chouteau. Lisa met him at 
Fort Osage and wrote to General Clark 10 July, 1807, — "Mr. 
Croucks left this yesterday to join Mr. McClellan he said, and 
promised that he would wait for us there. If we do not find hira 
there I will be compelled to take an assortment and go after him 
with my boat, which is the fastest going boat we have." The place 
where Crooks promised to wait was, evidently, at the Omaha vil- 
lage, where he was found. Crooks and McClellan followed the 
Fur Company's expedition up the river and were mistreated by 
the Sioux and had to retreat. In 18 10 Crooks met Wilson Price 
Hunt at Mackinac and engaged with him for the Astoria expe- 
dition, the story of which is told in Irving's Astoria. On this jour- 
ney he suffered almost incredible hardships. On his return he 
joined Mr. Astor in the American Fur Company of which he be- 
came the manager in the west and later the president. He mar- 
ried at St. Louis, 10 March, 1825, Emelie Pratte whose mother 
was a niece of Pierre Chouteau and a sister of Sylvestre Labbadie. 
They had several children most of whom survived their parents. 
Mr. Crooks was a man of high character and of great ability and 
energy. 

LETTERS OF PIERRE CHOUTEAU TO WILLIAM EUSTIS, 
SECRETARY OF WAR 

To the Honble Wm Eustis St. Louis November 22d — 1809 

Secretary of War 

I have the honor to acquaint you that I returned to this Place, 
two days ago, From my Missoury Excursion After having accom- 



274 Appendix 

pHshed the Principal objects of my Command as detailed in the 
orders and Instructions of the late Governor Lewis. 

The mandane chief and his interpreter, together With their 
Wives and children Were Restored to their People on the 24th day 
of September Last 

I shall have the honour of making my respects to You, in the 
City, in the course of a few Weeks, When the several incidents of 
this Expedition will be more minutely Reported to you. 

The late Transactions in the Indian department of Louisiana 
have been of so Extraordinary a character, that I am impelled, by 
the strongest motives to solicit an opportunity of Explaining Per- 
sonaly the Share Which I have had in them. 

I have the Honor to be with Great respect, 
Sir, Your most obedt Servant 
The Honble Pierre Chouteau. 

Wm Eustis 
Secretary of War 
Washington city 

St. Louis, Dber 14 — 1809 
The Honble 
William Eustis, 
Secretary of War, 
Sir, 

I had the honor of addressing you on the 22d ultimo announcing 
the safe arrival of the mandan chief, his wife and family at their 
nation and my return here. 

At the date of that letter I had Proposed to give you a detail of 
the incidents on that voyage in person, but am now informed by 
the superintendent of Indian affairs that from the absence of some 
of the indian agents from the territory my actual Presence cannot 
without endangering the public service be dispensed with — as soon 
however as is practicable I shall, unless otherwise directed from 
your Department, leave this for Washington City. 

In the mean time, In order to complete the duties required of me 
by the written Instructions of the late superintendent of Indian af- 
fairs dated June 8th 1809 (a copy whereof I now have the honor 
to enclose) as well as to show that those instructions have been 
my sole and only Guide in conducting this expedition ; those inci- 
dents which have Occured in the prosecution of it are now submit- 



Appendix 275 

ted. — sensible that the detail will be lengthy, and Perhaps uninter- 
esting, I still deem it my duty as a public agent to lay before the 
Government a minute & faithful account, that it may be seen 
whether my conduct merits a continuance of that confidence the 
Government has Placed in me or whether I have forfeited it. 

Conformably to the orders of Governor Lewis before alluded to. 
I took the command of the expedition for the conveyance of the 
Mandan chief his wife and family to their nation — one expedition 
with the same object in view had failed; it was Impressed upon 
me that where the honour and good faith of the Government was 
Pledged and where I might be of service, that I ought not to hes- 
itate, and the command though full of danger was accepted the 
more cheerfully, the detachment proceeded to fort osage where it 
was inspected and mustered by Capte clemson — the Panis, otto and 
Kanzas tribes of indians were there waiting for me with loud 
complaints because there were no merchants among them, and 
praying that some might be sent — they were referred to Governor 
Lewis — the expedition left fort osage and proceeded on, and saw 
no other indians untille it Arrived at the mahas, there, at the re- 
quest of those indians, we went with the mandan chief to the ma- 
has village, about forty leagues from this fell in with a band of 
three hundred & fifty of the Sioux, who had daily and continual 
communications with the indians further up the missoury — from 
them I learned that the sioux had formed them selves into twelve 
or fourteen bands, who alledging that they had been Promised a 
plenty of Goods, and cheap, and deceived for Two years, would 
be deceived no longer, and conceiving that the Boats of the expe- 
dition, were loaded with merchandize, they intended each Band 
to seize a Boat — after this we met large numbers of the prairies 
sioux, one of the most barbarous tribes of indians, who are said to 
be from two thousand five hundred, to three thousand strong — the 
chiefs of this tribe said they remembered now, that I had treated 
them with Great hospitality at saint Louis, and on that account the 
party should not be molested — and I am convinced that to Persua- 
tion and favor, and not to the strength of the detachment, is to 
be attributed our having Peaceably Passed that nation — agreably 
To my Instruction I attempted to avail my self of an auxiliary 
force of three hundred sioux, to cooperate with the detachment 
against the ricaras and was refused, they said one tribe ought not 
to counteanance an attempt to destroy another, and if I still per- 



276 Appendix 

sisted in that resolution my self and Party might be destroyed be- 
fore we reached the ricaras. for the more perfect safety of the 
mandan chief and his family, as well as to secure success to the 
enterprize, I then determined to engage some of the chiefs of the 
sioux to accompany us to the ricaras, and succeeded in Procuring 
six of the principal chiefs — the expedition then departed, and ar- 
rived and encamped on the Bank of the river near the ricaras — 
there the detachment made a martial appearance and conducted 
with perfect Good order, the ricaras expecting their village was 
to be attacked, sent away their old men, women and children. 
Eighteen or twenty of the chiefs and Principal men of the mandan 
nation fearing that another attack might be made on the Party 
who were Bringing their chief, had been waiting the arrival of 
the detachment for several days, and came to our encampment, 
those chiefs with the chiefs of the sioux who had Accompanied us, 
then demanded the Pardon of the Ricaras. — Without Giving them 
any assurences, I expressed a desire that some of the chiefs of the 
ricaras might come to my camp, four of their chiefs Soon after 
came, to whom I expressed my astonishment that no more of the 
chiefs of their nation had come, they replied that the alarm in 
their nation was Great, and the others dare not come. — the day be- 
ing Far advanced I dismissed them under a promise of returning 
to the Council the next morning with more of their chiefs, none of 
them however appeared. I sent an interpreter to them to en- 
quire the reason. Who was told that their nation was more 
alarmed and unless hostages were Given to them they would not 
again appear at the council. Anxious to hold a council with their 
nation, four of the Principal Persons of the detachment were Given 
as hostages — Eight of their Principal chiefs immediately came to 
the council — I told them that their Great father the president of 
the united states had sent me to conduct the mandan chief to his 
village a second time, the first time you Permitted your selves to 
fire upon the colors of your Father, and to attack his men — I have 
orders to destroy your nation, but the chiefs of the sioux and man- 
dan nations have united together and interceded for your Pardon, 
at their Particular request, I shall Ground my Arms, until new 
orders can be received from your Great father who alone can par- 
don or destroy. — You may now call back your old men, your 
wives and children, who have fled and secreted themselves — the 
mandan chief who had hitherto been kept in the Boat was sent for 



Appendix 277 

I presented him to them and observed to them, — this chief and his 
family are under the safe conduct and protection of the united 
states, I am obliged to deliver them at their village, and if any of 
your tribes shall dare to molest them, I shall put fire to your vil- 
lages, the chiefs of the ricaras then took the mandan chief by the 
hand, saying, if they fired upon him the first time, it was because 
the principal chief of the nation was then absent; that the death 
of their chief in the united States had been the cause of Great dis- 
satisfaction in their nation, but that he might with Great safety 
now pass in their villages without fearing any thing — it may be 
proper to observe here, that five or six hundred of the Ricaras be- 
lieving that they would be attacked had Provided themselves with 
Guns, ammunition and horses, the hostages were returned and the 
detachment then embarked for the mandan Nation, where it ar- 
rived without further obstruction. I then caused the mandan na- 
tion to be assembled, as also the minnetare and ahwapaway na- 
tions of indians, in council, and presented to them the mandan 
chief, his wife and family, who were received with the Greatest 
demonstration of joy, I explained to them the cause of his deten- 
tion. 

I then demanded of him the presents which had been sent by 
him to be distributed among these nations, he replied that the 
presents he had brought were not to be distributed, they were all 
his own. this seemed to occasion Jealousies and difficulties among 
all the tribes, and the more so as "One Eye" the great chief of 
the minetaries had in a quarrel a few days before murdered one 
of the Principal men of the mandans — I then Presented to "One 
Eye" the large medal and flag in the name of his Great father 
The President of the United States, and as a token of the amity & 
friendship of the United states twords his nation, and to prevent 
any further misunderstandings between the mandans and the min- 
etaries and to appease the Jealousies which had been created by 
the refusal of the mandan chief to have the presents distributed, 
I distributed among them sixty Pounds of Powder, and one hun- 
dred & Twenty Pounds of the Ball which had been furnished for 
the contemplated warfare with the ricaras, and ten pounds of Ver- 
million, and one hundred and fifty Pounds of tobacco, which 
seemed to restore harmony amongst them. 

Two days before my arrival at the mandan village information 
was Given me, that three persons belonging to the British north 



278 Appendix 

West Company were at the village. Immediately sent forward an 
Express desiring them to await my arrival but they feared being 
detained and departed: they however informed a white man who 
Resides at the mandan village, that the north west company had 
erected a fort at the three forks of the missoury. — this informa- 
tion is believed to be true from the circumstances of about thirty 
American Hunters, who had used to visit the mandan village, not 
being seen nor heard of since about eighteen months. Had my 
orders not required my Immediate return from the mandan's, I 
should have ascertained the truth or falsehood of the report. 

On my return I saw at the river Platte Mrs. McClelland, 
Crooks & miller who were licensed to trade & Hunt in the upper 
Parts of the missoury. In passing the Prairie sioux they with a 
party of Forty chosen men had been stopped and fortunately saved 
themselves by stratagem, taking advantage of the night and re- 
turned to Pass the winter where I saw them, those indians it is 
feared will continue to be troublesome, and commit depredations 
upon the traders until they are regularly supplied with merchan- 
dize 

I have thus Given you a faithful, and I trust satisfactory, detail 
of a voyage in which I have encountered many difficulties and 
dangers, and which was by me undertaken with the more pure 
motives, and in obedience to the express orders which I conceive 
ray self bound most rigidly to obey. 

If the confidence of the Government in me has been or is about 
to be diminished, I shall not fail to regret it as one of the most 
unfortunate events of my Life 

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF JOHN COLTER 





-^-f^<rt^^ 



was born in Virginia, but removed to Kentucky and lived at Mays- 
ville where he joined the Lewis and Clark expedition in the fall of 
1803. He rendered efficient service on the journey, and upon the 
return of the expedition when the Mandan villages were reached, 
in August 1806, he applied to the Captains for permission to leave 
the party and join two trappers (Forest Hancock and Joseph Dick- 



Appendix 279 

son) who had been met on the Yellowstone, and who proposed an 
expedition up the river in which they were to find traps and give 
him a share of the profits. Lewis and Clark gave him the desired 
permission and parted with him with regret. As Lisa's party as- 
cended the river in 1807 they met Colter at the mouth of the Platte 
on his way down and Lisa persuaded him to return. It was prob- 
ably during the Autumn of this same year that he made the lonely 
journey during the course of which he discovered the wonders of 
the district now known as Yellowstone Park. He returned to St. 
Louis in the spring of 1810. While in St. Louis he brought suit 
against the estate of Meriwether Lewis in which he obtained judg- 
ment for $377.60, which was however uncollectable because of the 
insolvency of the estate. John Bradbury met him near his home 
in Franklin County Mo. (near where Dundee station on the Mis- 
souri Pacific railroad now is) in March 181 1. "He seemed to have 
a strong inclination to accompany the expedition," says Bradbury, 
"but having been lately married, he reluctantly took leave of us." 
He died at his home in November 181 3. His wife, Sally, within 
two years after his death married James Brown. From the inven- 
tory of his estate it appears that Colter had been engaged in farm- 
ing. His library consisted of "three histories." He seems to have 
been a typical example of the pioneer Virginia — Kentucky — Missou- 
rian, simple, fearless and trustworthy. He has his peculiar niche in 
the history of the country, and few characters have such romantic 
interest. 

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF JOHN DOUGHERTY 

It is with feelings far deeper and sadder than even similar be- 
reavements usually call forth, that we record the death of one of 
our oldest, most useful and most respected citizens. On Friday, the 
28th ult., at 6 P. M., Major John Dougherty, breathed his last, at 
his residence in this county — full of years and full of honors, he fell 
asleep surrounded by his sorrowing wife and children (whose gen- 
tle and assiduous attentions, for long weeks had soothed the intense 
suffering of the stricken husband and father). Major Dougherty 
was born near Bardstown, Nelson County, Ky., 12 April 1791 — and 
hence, was nearly approaching his three-score and ten years. 

Impelled by an energy and self-reliance that characterized him in 
all his subsequent life, at the early age of seventeen he took leave 



2 8o Appendix 

of his family and the familiar friends and loved scenes of his 
childhood, came to the wild forests of Missouri Territory, and 
commenced the battle of life, gallantly and unaided — marked ever 
b}' true merit, and ultimately crowned with eminent success. De- 
scended from an early pioneer, to the "dark and bloody grounds" — 
the tales of adventure more thrilling than romance — so permeated 
a bold and enterprising nature, that it is not astonishing that his 
first essay in active life should have been one of extreme danger, 
peril and hardship. In the year 1808, soon after his arrival in the 
French Village of St. Louis, he became connected with a company 
for the purpose of traversing the plains, crossing the Rocky Moun- 
tains, and descending the Columbia to its mouth. This trip is 
now destitute of romance ; it has become common — it is the work 
of a few months — not so fifty-two years ago — then it was a terra 
incognita — the labor of years and full of danger — as the wily 
savage watched for the daring adventurer along his entire voy- 
age. He spent many years in hard and dangerous enterprises in 
the Indian country, in which he became more perfectly acquainted 
with the habits, manners, tastes, and peculiarities of the North- 
western tribes, than any man ever did before, or since — and no 
man has ever acquired such an influence over them — this did not 
result so much from his peculiar knowledge of them, as it did 
from the man himself — his face, his form, his physique, were per- 
fect; a commanding and easy dignity, a bright and intellectual 
eye; an unvarying candor, and directness in all his intercourse 
with them, at once pleased, charmed and overawed them. For 
these reasons added to his intelligence, business habits, and high 
sense of honor, he was selected by his Government as the prin- 
cipal Agent for all tribes from the border of Missouri to the crest 
of the Mountains ; and this position he retained for nearly twenty 
years; and, although an unwavering Whig, Gen. Jackson was too 
good a patriot, and had too much regard for manly worth, to dis- 
pense with his invaluable services — it was left to his wily suc- 
cessor to inaugurate the corrupting policy "that to the victors be- 
long the spoils." Major D. soon after, removed to this county, and 
was elected one of her Representatives in the hard contest of 1840; 
and well and faithful to the State and county did he discharge 
every duty. His strong common sense, his large fund of acquired 
knowledge — much from books, but more from men (that volume 
of rich treasures to him who can read and understand it — and few 



Appendix 



281 



possessed the charmed key that unlocks and reveals human na- 
ture in its inmost recesses, and used it with a master's hand, more 
perfectly than the deceased),— his bland manners, his high social 
qualities, his rich and unfailing fund of pure and original anec- 
dote, gave him an enviable standing in the House; and has left 
garnered up in the memories of his fellow-members, the most 
kindly and respected feelings; and not one of them will hear of 
his death without feelings of sadness and sorrow. 

In all the relations of life, Major D. was a most excellent citi- 
zen—his hightoned patriotism, confined to no party and no section, 
embraced all that the Constitution and Union of his country em- 
braced—public spirited and liberal in the rearing and endowing 
schools, colleges and churches; building railroads, and all other 
public works; he was of the first to start them, and of the most 
liberal to sustain them. He was kind, courteous and hospitable, a 
good neighbor, a warm and devoted friend, and an affectionate 
husband; and he has given the best evidence, that man can give 
of the manner in which he had discharged the delicate duties of 
a father, in the social and moral deportment, usefulness and high 
standing of every one of his children. This is his best eulogy, 
and it was a cheering solace to him, when the dark shadows of 
death was slowly, but surely, falling over him. The last years of 
his life, like the first, were characterised by energy and usefulness, 
morality and virtue; and he died trusting in a merciful redeemer. 
The public and his many warm friends will deeply feel his loss, 
but none can feel as his bereaved wife and children, who received 
his last sign. This feeble tribute is from one who had known him 
long, and intimately, and known him with increasing admiration, 
respect, and friendship. 

[Alexander W.] D[oniphan]. 

(From The Liberty Tribune, Friday, January 4, 1861.) 

Major Dougherty was appointed United States Indian Agent in 
1820. His headquarters were at Fort Leavenworth for the first 
ten years of his incumbency; at St. Louis for the years 1830-1833; 
then for a short time at Council Bluffs, and again at Fort Leaven- 
worth where he remained until 1837, when his service terminated 
and he removed to Clay County, Missouri. He married at St. 
Louis, 13 November 1823, Mary, daughter of Joseph Hertzog and 
Catherine Wilt. 



282 , Appendix 

They had five children: Lewis Bissell, born at Fort Leavenworth, 
7 December 1828, the first white American born in what is now 
the State of Kansas." He served in the Confederate Army as Cap- 
tain in the Third Missouri Infantry, and is now living at Liberty, 
Missouri. Anne Elizabeth, born at Council Bluffs, 29 August 
1824; she married General Charles F. Ruff, U. S. A., and died 
at Philadelphia, 11 July 1909. O'Fallon, born at St. Louis 5 June 
1832. He was active as a banker and stock-raiser, but has now 
retired from business and is living at Liberty, Mo. John Kerr, 
born at St. Louis, 6 February 1835. He served in his brother's reg- 
iment in the Confederate Army, and was killed in the battle of 
Franklin, Tennessee, 30 November 1864, — ^ day long bemourned 
in Missouri. Mrs. Dougherty died in Philadelphia, 27 March 
1873, aged seventy-four years, A large collection of Major Dough- 
erty's letters and papers is in the archives of the Missouri Historical 
Society. 

LETTER OF ANDREW HENRY TO FRANCOIS VALLE 

5 June 1810 
Dr. Francis. 

Since you left the fort I was told by Charles Davis that some 
days past you expressd some regret at going down. If that is the 
case & you have any wish to stay. You shall have the same bar- 
gain which Manuel gave you last fall & better should you desire it. 
But on the other hand If you have really a wish to decend I will 
by no means advise you to stay but would rather advice you to go 
home to your family who I know will be extreemely glad to see 
you, alltho the pleasure of your company for a year in this wild 
country would be to me inestimable. 

Should 30U continue down please present my respects to Joph 
Pratt & family, to Terry Weber, the Doctr Thomas Colo & Reuben 
Smith & all my friends, Geo. Bullit Doctr Elliot &c. 

I am Dr Francis 
Mr Francis Valle very respectfully 

(Address) yr friend 

Francis Valle Eqr. A Henry 

On the Madison 
Mr. Davis) 



Appendix 283 

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF WILLIAM WEIR 

WILLIAM WEIR was born in Kentucky, probably in Muhlenberg 
County, in 1787, of Scotch-Irish parentage. He was of an adven- 
turous spirit and left home at an early age to seek his fortune. 
He came to Missouri and enlisted with the Fur Company. He was 
one of the party who went with Henry across the mountains in the 
fall of 1 8 10, and upon their return to the Missouri he remained at 
one of the forts and continued in the service for a number of 
years. He was an active, efficient man, brave and skilful, and 
took rank with Dougherty and Colter. In 1818 he was appointed 
by the Territorial legislature one of the commissioners to estab- 
lish the county-seat of Cooper County, and in 1820 he was charged 
with a similar duty for Cole County. In 1819 and 1820, and per- 
haps for a longer time, he was justice of the peace in Moreau 
Township, Cooper County. About this time he married, and 
afterwards went to Crawford County where he cleared a farm and 
made a home for himself and family. The spirit of adventure 
was too strong in him to allow him to bide contentedly at home, 
and he joined a trading party on a trip through Texas to Mexico. 
He died at his home in Missouri in 1845, leaving ten children. 
One of them, John Weir, went to Texas in the 30's, and there did 
good service in helping to achieve the independence of the coun- 
try. In 1853 he crossed the plains to California, and in 1858 he 
went to the Puget Sound country where he spent the remaining 
years of his life, and where his descendants remain. To Allen 
Weir, Esq., of Olympia, I am indebted for much of the informa- 
tion about his grandfather given above. 

INTERVIEW WITH PIERRE MENARD, JULY 1810 

A few days ago Mr. Menard with some of the gentlemen at- 
tached to the Missouri Fur Company arrived here from their Fort 
at the head waters of the Missouri, bj- whom we learn that they 
had experienced considerable opposition from the Blackfoot In- 
dians; this adverse feeling arose from the jealousy prevalent 
among all savage (and some civilized) nations of those who trade 
with their enemies. The Crows and Blackfeet are almost contin- 
ually at war. The Company detached a party to trade with the 



284 Appendix 

latter, This gave offence to the Blackfeet who had not the same 
opportunity of procuring Arms, &c. The Hudson Bay Factory* 
being several days journey from their hunting grounds, and with 
whom they cannot trade with equal advantage. 

A hunting party which had been detached from the Fort to the 
Forks of Jefferson River were attacked in the neighborhood of 
their encampment on the 12th of April by a strong party of the 
Blackfeet, whom they kept at bay for sometime, but we are sorry 
to say unavailingly, as the Indians were too numerous; the party 
consisted of 14 or 15 of whom five were killed, say, Hull, Cheeks, 
Ayres, Rucker and Freehearty; Messrs Valle, Immel and compan- 
ions escaped and carried the unpleasant tidings to the Fort, but 
with the loss of Tents, Arms, Traps, &c. 

Early in May George Druilard accompanied by some Dela- 
wares, who were in the employ of the Company, went out to hunt, 
contrary to the wishes of the rest of the party who were confident 
the Indians were in motion around them, and that from a hostile 
disposition they had already shewn it would be attended with 
danger, their presages were too true, he had not proceeded more 
than two miles from the camp before he was attacked by a party 
in ambush by which himself and two of his men were literally cut 
to pieces. It appears from circumstances that Druilard made a 
most obstinate resistance as he made a kind of breastwork of his 
horse, whom he made to turn in order to receive the enemy's fire, 
his bulwark, of course, soon failed and he became the next victim 
of their fury. It is lamentable that although this happened within 
a short distance of relief, the fire was not heard so as to afford it, 
in consequence of a high wind which prevailed at the time. 

Adding all those untoward circumstances the Fur Company have 
every prospect of success, although the majority of the season was 

* The Hudson Bay Company have Factory's on the head waters 
of the Red River, on the same river the Mackinaw Com. have two 
trading houses; these houses are established for the purpose of 
procuring dried Buffaloe and Venison from the Missouri Indians, 
the north country being destitute of that kind of food. Our hunt- 
ers who visited the british factories say that they are mostly Scots- 
men having European wives, and living in well built log houses, 
and in possession of as much comfort as any person can enjoy so 
near the Pole — they were informed that the north sea was about 
1800 miles from their Forts calculating the meanderings of the 
Red river. 



Appendix 285 

occupied in distributing the hunting parties and exploring the foot 
of the mountains: although they have had upwards of $12,000 
worth of valuable furs consumed, yet they have been able to send 
down about fifty packs of Beaver, besides other Furs of a consid- 
erable amount and have taken measures to ensure more than 
double that quantity in the spring. (Louisiana Gazette, Thursday 
July 26th, 1 8 10.) 

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF GEORGE DROUILLARD 




^)/^<cc^i:c£^ 



George Drouillard 
(Druyer, Drewyer) 
was the son of Pierre 
Drouillard and a Shawnee woman. His great grandfather Drouil- 
lard immigrated to Canada in the latter part of the seventeenth 
century, married at Quebec in 1698, and was one of the early in- 
habitants of Detroit, in which neighborhood his descendants still 
live. Pierre Drouillard was in the British service as Indian inter- 
preter and agent, and was the means of saving the life of Simon 
Kenton, whom he found a prisoner at Sandusky. He married at 
Detroit in 1776, Angelique Descamps, of which marriage there 
were several children. A letter from George Drouillard to one of 
^his half sisters is printed in Wheeler's On the Trail of Leivis and 
Clark. George probably came with his mother's people to Mis- 
souri in his early youth, as he describes himself as of the District 
of Cape Girardeau. We know little of him prior to his associa- 
tion with Lewis and Clark, though mention is made of him as 
being at Fort Massac and at Kaskaskia. He went to the Pacific 
and back with Lewis and Clark, and Lewis wrote of him, — "I 
scarcely know how we should subsist were it not for the exertions 
of this excellent hunter;" "a man of much merit; he has been 
peculiarh' useful from his knowledge of the common language of 
gesticulation, and his uncommon skill as a hunter and woodsman; 
these several duties he performed in good faith, and wnth an ardor 
which deserves the highest commendation. It was his fate also to 
have encountered on various occasions, with either Captain Clark 
or myself, all the most dangerous and trying scenes of the voyage, 
in which he uniformly acquitted himself with honor." He was one 
of Lisa's chief men on the voyage of 1807, when he had the mis- 



2 86 Appendix 

fortune to shoot and kill Antoine Bissonette, a deserter, and for 
which he was tried, in St. Louis, and acquitted. 

NOTICES OF THE EXPEDITION OF SMITH, McLANAHAN 

AND OTHERS TO SANTA FE IN 1809, WITH 

A LETTER FROM McLANAHAN TO 

GOVERNOR BENJAMIN HOWARD 

We are informed that about the 20th ult. Capt. R. Smith, Mr. 
M'Lanehan and a Mr. Patterson set out from the district of St. 
Genevieve upon a journey to St. a Fee, accompanied by Emanuel 
Blanco, a native of Mexico. We presume their objects are mer- 
cantile; the enterprise must be toilsome and perilous, the distance 
being computed at 5 to 600 miles, altogether through a wilderness 
heretofore unexplored. {Louisiana Gazette, Thursday, 28 Decem- 
ber, 1809.) 

Mr. Editor 
Sir. 
I learn that some gentlemen of the district of St. Genevieve have 
set out with an intention of visiting Mexico, as far as St. a Fee, 
the capital of that Kingdom, their shortest rout will be through the 
great Osage Nation to the source of the Arcansas river, where they 
will fall in with the Aytan or Padoca nation, who will conduct 
them to St. a Fee where they will meet with the good and benevo- 
lent gentleman in the person of the Governor of that province who 
is also colonel of the troops stationed there. The governor general 
of the upper provinces has given his positive orders to send in all 
strangers who may arrive at that corner of the Kingdom. In obe- 
dience to orders, they will be conveyed 600 miles south to his res- 
idence where they will be tried as smugglers or spies, as these 
gentlemen will not come under either of those denominations they 
will be imprisoned a few months and then sent to the first U. S. 
post. A. Traveller. 

{Louisiana Gazette, Thursday, January 4, 1810.) 

Last November we announced the departure for St. Fe, of three 
of our citizens and a Spaniard as a guide (Manuel Blanco) to open 
a commercial intercourse with the upper provinces of Mexico. 
Since that period we have had no communication from that quar- 



Appendix ^°7 

ter- we then ventured to express some fears for their safety, 
grounded on that narrow policy exhibited in Spanish America: 
which alas were too well founded.-From one of our late eastern 
papers we extract the following paragraphs: 

Philadelphia, August, 14th 
It appears that Bonaparte's plans against the Spanish dominion, 
in America have not had that happy issue which he contemplated, 
and that his stratagems have not produced the least effect on the 
loyalty of the Spanish Americans, which is not inferior to that 
which the inhabitants of the peninsula have manifested for their 
sovereign Ferdinand VII. 

Three Americans, and a Spaniard called Blanco, spies or emis- 
saries of Bonaparte, have been arrested at Chihuagua by Don 
Nemesio Salcedo, in consequence of the seasonable advices which 
the Vice Roy of Mexico communicated to the commandant general 
of said province, that these persons had arrived at Upper Louisi- 
ana from Baltimore and were going to the town of St. Fe. These 
four individuals were travelling with two negro slaves amongst 
the Indian tribes subject to this province, without any passports 
from the Spanish authorities of Ferdinand VII from the place 
whence they proceeded, which is indispensably necessary in order 
to enter the Spanish dominions without being considered as a spy; 
^ there were found in their possession a paper written in English 
' and a letter from the curate of St. Genevieve in France* also thir- 
teen fire arms, six cutlasses, three axes and five flasks of powder. 
In their first declaration they stated that the object of their jour- 
ney from Upper Louisiana, was no other than to establish them- 
selves in the dominions of his majesty Ferdinand VII, to whom 
they were greatly attached; as if persons going from this country 
to the Spanish possessions were ignorant that it is requisite to have 
permission from the government and the necessary passports from 
the established authorities to obtain an entrance into the Spanish 
territories. They were immediately conducted to the Castle of St. 
Elceario for trial, it will not be long before they will suffer the 
punishment due to such traitors according to the strict orders of 
the council of regency of Spain and the Indies, that in case of this 

* Mark the pretended ignorance of these bloodhounds, they knew 
these gentlemen were from St. Genevieve in the Territory of 
Louisiana, they well knew the character of the worthy pastor (Rev. 
Mr. Maxwell), whose letters of credence they bore. 



288 Appendix 

nature justice should not be delayed in order to purge the Span- 
ish soil of such vermin." 

Vermin! what a prostitution of language! Messrs. Smith, 
M'Clanahan and Patterson strangers to the policy of Mexico and 
the monkish barbarism of the natives, they conceived they would 
visit white men clothed with the christian name ; unhappy credu- 
lity! They would have found more generosity in the breast of an 
Arab, more hospitality in the den of a Hiena. — The assassins of 
Mexico have ere this butchered three respectable inhabitants of 
Louisiana! ! Men whose virtues were admired by all who knew 
them. Men who never dreamt of coalesing with any hostile 
party, who would not resign the name of American Citizen for all 
the honors in the gift of a Joseph Bonaparte, or the blood stained 
gold of Mexican Inquisitors. Yet a little while and a day of 
terrible retribution will arrive. {Louisiana Gazette, October 4, 1810.) 

We understand that Mr. Bates sometime since, in the exercise 
of the government, has transmitted to Mr. Crittenden the Attorney 
General now on the circuit at St. Genevieve, information of the 
arrest, by the Osage Indians of eight men who were found in their 
country without licenses ; That Capt. Walker, late of the United 
States Army, is one of the prisoners, and the head of the party. 

In connection with the foregoing, a report also circulates which 
we believe to be authentic, that the secretary's dispatches to the 
Attorney General, contain some confessions or avowals of Capt. 
Walker, and of Mr. Scott, one of his associates, of an enterprise 
contemplated against the Mexican provinces — Capt. Walker's 
party it seems was in advance of the main body, for the purpose 
of ascertaining the most convenient route. Three hundred men, 
well equipped, from Kentucky, Tennessee and the Illinois Terri- 
to^-y, were expected to rendezvous at the mouth of the Canadian 
forks of the Arkansas River by the 25th of this month. — The ob- 
ject is said to be the release of Messrs. Smith, M'Clanahan, Pat- 
terson and others ; and to bring off what gold they could conve- 
niently seize; or (if such a course offered fairer prospects of spec- 
ulation) to join the revolutionary party. 

We are happy to know, that our local officers are properly im- 
pressed with respect to the positive wrong and the mischevious 
tendencies of these illicit expeditions. {Louisiana Gazette, March 
14, 1811.) 



Appendix 289 

St. Louis, June 18, 18 12. 
To His Excellency 

Governor Howard: 
Sir, 

From the nature of the governnnent under which the undersigned 
are proud to consider themselves citizens, and from the character 
of those who now administer it, they are persuaded that the sub- 
joined statement of facts and annunciation of views will excite a 
becoming interest and obtain a just countenance from those to 
whom they are now unreservedly communicated. From a govern- 
ment whose object and whose operation are the protection of all we 
presume to think that the knowledge of the sufferings of any should 
not be withheld. Having suffered in what we conceive a laudable 
pursuit from the tyranny of a foreign government, we feel that 
we have a right to make it known, and meditating further enter- 
prize we consider it a duty to declare to you, sir, and through you 
to the paternal government of the union, that projected as it has 
been with honorable views, it shall not be commenced in secrecy 
or deception. 

Indulging in common with our fellow citizens of the United 
States a portion of that spirit of enterprize which has with unpar- 
alelled rapidity advanced our country in the scale of prosperity and 
happiness the undersigned commenced in the autumn of 1809 a 
journey into the interior provinces of Spain going west of Louisi- 
ana, for the purpose of geographical and commercial information. 
The suspicious jealousy and unaccountable opposition of the Span- 
ish government to the diffusion of information were well impressed 
on our minds. But it is known to your excellency that a new era 
has taken place. The Spanish monarchy in Europe was shaken to 
its centre. The Dynast}- was completely set aside. The spirit of 
change and of consequent amelioration had pervaded many of the 
glooms on the continent of America. Successful revolutions had 
been vouchsafed to some, and with all, an intercourse on a more 
friendly and familiar footing from the corresponding sections of 
the United States was established or meditated. We forbear to en- 
large on those considerations of a reciprocal interest and a just 
policy which recommended the establishment of such an intercourse. 
In the spirit of these considerations, and under the genius of our 
liberal institutions our tour was commenced, but ere it was per- 
mitted to us to traverse the territory claimed by the United States, 



290 Appendix 

its progress was averted and its objects frustrated. On the head 
waters of Red River we became the prisoners of the armed agents 
of the Governor of Santa Fe. As such we were guarded and con- 
veyed to the capitol of the Province. From thence we were in some 
time transmitted, in irons, to Chigugua, the capitol of the four 
interior provinces. At this place we were separated and commit- 
ted to distinct places of confinement for nearly a year. We were 
afterwards brought back to Chigugua where we remained for 
nearly another year under circumstances of suffering and privation 
which we feel unwilling to detail, and of ignominy from which 
we would equally banish reflection. To this situation whether 
characterized by distress or insult we should have found submis- 
sion more tolerable had we supposed that it had been incurred by 
any conduct of our nation or of ourselves, or that those who were 
the authors of the punishment inflicted, could themselves assign a 
reason for their cruelty. But the despotism which ruled us was 
sullen and silenlt as it was unmerited and unmeaning — alike inac- 
cessible to remonstrance on our part and to explanation on that 
(of) its author. Having experienced some inconsiderable and oc- 
casional relaxation of our confinement during its latter period, and 
having that confinement attributed by vague, indefinite and remote 
insinuations to secret information relative to the hostility of our 
views we were enlarged without further accusation, without a 
shadow of trial, with the loss of health and of property, and iu 
poverty and rags commanded to find our way by the most direct 
route to the territory of the United States. 

We feel desirous to guard your excellency from inferring from 
this detail that the treatment we received in the Spanish Provinces 
met with the approbation of the inhabitants thereof or excited no 
sympathy for our fate. As far as information could be collected 
in our situation, embarrassed too as we were by the difficulties of 
an unknown tongue, and the suspicions of a tottering government 
we have no hesitation in avowing that the conduct exhibited us was 
condemned by all but the immediate dependants of government. 
That a free and reciprocal intercourse with the citizens of these 
states was ardently desired by them, and that our return under 
more auspicious circumstances and with whatever views would be 
hailed by them with joy and exultation. The causes which pro- 
duced the treatment of which we have complained may not again 
operate, the same concurrence of events may not again take place, 



Appendix 291 

there may be nothing to awaken the suspicion of a feeble govern- 
ment, or if awakened facts may present themselves in such a shape 
as to allay or render it harmless. 

These impressions, Sir, are indelibly fixed on our minds and we 
are determined to obey their promptings. We consider it due to 
the nation not to abandon an intercourse which is not denied in 
others of the Spanish Provinces. We consider it due to ourselves 
to avail ourselves of the advantages of our local situation — we con- 
sider the admonition of our patriotick President equally acceptable 
to the private citizen and the legislator, to watch the events that 
are developing themselves in that interesting portion of our con- 
tinent and not to be unprepared for whatever may take place. As 
we quote from memory, these may not be the words of Mr. Mad- 
ison. They however convey his ideas on the subject. 

The reasons Sir, which suggested to us the laudable nature of 
our first enterprize operate now upon us with double force. Al- 
though blindfolded as it were by tyranny we have yet seen enough 
to awaken enquiry and stimulate exertion. Instructed by hard ex- 
perience we can form some idea of the difficulties we may have to 
encounter. We think we can calculate the amount of opposition, 
we feel that we can justly appreciate the glowing reception we 
shall meet from the unfortunate, the imbruted American Spaniards. 
Like most children of hope we realize to ourselves some compensa- 
tion for shattered constitution for injured fortune and lost time. 
We flatter ourselves with the power of making valuable additions 
to geographical knowledge, of communicating a correct view of 
wants to be supplied and productions to be exchanged. 

In a former part of this letter we have taken the liberty of sub- 
mitting to your excellency a brief statement of our situation while 
we remained in the Spanish Provinces, but we are aware that at 
present it cannot be made the subject of remonstrance much less 
of redress. We think it however not unworthy of record, as far 
as it has reference to us as citizens of the United States, or as it 
may have influence on our own individual conduct. We have full 
confidence that in future negotiations it will receive that attention 
which its merits demand. We have mentioned only because we be- 
lieved it proper, and we shall think of it only as far as it may be 
useful. In our persons we have considered the sovereignty of the 
American people insulted, and with views of honest industry in 



292 Appendix 

again visiting these provinces we have no disposition to forget 
what is due to personal respect or to patriotism. 

The enterprize, Sir, which we contemplate undertaking may as 
you will readily perceive be attended with difficulty and danger, 
and its features may be varied by unexpected occurrences. It is 
therefore impossible to give you as distinct a view of it as we could 
wish. The intentions with which it is undertaken and the means 
by which it is to be conducted may be partially collected from the 
communication which is now hastely presented to you. And we 
cannot permit ourselves to apprehend that the countenance and 
approbation of our venerated government will be withheld from an 
expedition, whose views we know to be correct, whose means we 
pledge ourselves shall be honorable, which may make large con- 
tributions to national prosperity, may extend the bounds of knowl- 
edge and multiply the means of happiness. 

Signed in behalf of Reuben Smith, James Patterson & myself 

J. McLanahan. 

(In Dal ton Collection of Manuscripts in Archives Missouri His- 
torical Society.) 

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF JAMES BAIRD 

JAMES BAIRD was born at Carlisle, Pennsylvania, in July 1787, ^ 
where he learned the trade of blacksmith and bear-trap maker. 
He was married at Path Valley, Pennsylvania, in September 1784, 
and soon after established himself at Fort Duquesne. In May 1786, 
he removed to Erie, and in March 1809 to Pittsburgh. In August 
1 8 10 he came to St. Louis and started a blacksmith shop on Main 
Street and Clark Avenue. The next year he built a shop on Third 
Street between Spruce and Plum, which later was the first St. Louis 
Theater. In 18 12 Baird together with Robert McKnight, William 
Chambers, Benjamin Shreeve, Alfred Allen, Michael MacDonough, 
William Mines, Peter Baum, Thomas Cook and Francois Maille 
started on an expedition to Santa Fe. They were at Fort Osage, 
on the Missouri, 4 June, 18 12, and as Gregg says that they fol- 
lowed the direction of Captain Pike, they probably went to the 
southwestward instead of following the South fork of the Platte, 
which was previously the usual course. When they reached Santa 
Fe they were arrested and sent to Chihuahua, where they were 
kept in prison for upwards of nine years for entering the country 
without passports. In the St. Louis Enquirer of 12 July, 1820, it 



Appendix 293 

is said that "the progress of the revolution in Spain has forced 
from that miserable wretch Ferdinand VII, an order for setting at 
liberty all such Americans of the United States as have been made 
prisoners within his dominions," and that the individuals named 
above, except Chambers, who is not mentioned, will be entitled to 
their liberty in consequence of the above order. "It is said that 
two of the party contrived early in 1821, to return to the United 
States in a canoe which they succeeded in forcing down the Cana- 
dian fork of the Arkansas" (Gregg's Commerce of the Prairies, p. 
20). One of these was Baum whom James saw in St. Louis before 
his departure: the other, James says, was one of Pike's men. Baird 
is said to have made the trip from Santa Fe back to St. Louis 
without company. He and his old partner, Chambers, organized 
a second expedition which left St. Louis late in the fall of 1822. 
They were caught in a blizzard at the crossing of the Arkansas; 
they lost all of their animals and were compelled to spend the win- 
ter at that place. They got through in the spring and went to 
Chihuahua where they sold their goods at such prices as made 
the venture a successful one. Baird died at El Paso del Norte, in 
December 1826. Much of the information about Baird is derived 
from a manuscript, by Capt. J. W. Baird of Louisville, in the 
archives of the Historical Society. 

In an article in the Southwestern Historical Quarterly for Jan- 
uary 1916, p. 256, is a letter from Baird to Ramirez, the chief offi- 
-cer of the El Paso district, of date 26 October, 1826, stating that he 
had entered upon the enjoyment of the rights of Mexican citizen- 
ship, having resided in the provinces for fourteen years, and com- 
plaining, as a citizen of the great Mexican nation, against the ex- 
traordinary conduct of some foreigners, Anglo-Americans, who 
were hunting beaver in the Mexican territory and begging that the 
foreigners be confined to the limits which the laws permit them, 
"and that we Mexicans may peaceably profit by the goods with 
which the merciful God has been pleased to enrich our soil," 

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF JACQUES CLAMORGAN 

JACQUES CLAMORGAN came to St. Louis before 1784, and died 
there about the nth day of November, 18 14, aged eighty years. It 
is said that he came from Guadelupe and was of Portuguese birth 
or descent. There is less to be learned about him than about any 
other man of equal prominence of his day. This may be because 



294 Appendix 

of the fact that he was of alien blood from the French and Span- 
ish inhabitants, and without family connections in St. Louis. And 
it may be because his manner of life did not commend itself to the 
people. He maintained a harem of negro or mulatto slave women 
whom he emancipated when they bore him children. Among his 
grandchildren was a son of Lord Edward Fitzgerald who visited 
St. Louis in 1789. Glamorgan was active, bold and enterprising as 
a trader, and obtained from the Spanish government grants of im- 
mense tracts of land in what is now Missouri and Arkansas amount- 
ing in all to about one million arpents. (For information as to one 
of these "claims" see U. S. Reports 11 Otto 822.) He was the 
leader in the company formed at St. Louis in 1794, for trading on 
the upper Missouri. He also traded in partnership with Regis Loi- 
sel, with Isaac and Andrew Todd of Montreal, and was the rep- 
resentative of Daniel Clark of New Orleans. In 1807 he and 
Manuel Lisa sent a barge load of goods to New Mexico with a 
party commanded by Louison Baudoin. Among Flint's boatmen, 
in 1816, was a man who "had been in the Spanish country, through 
which he had penetrated by the almost interminable courses of the 
Arkansas and Red River;" most likely one of Baudoin's men. 
Glamorgan, notwithstanding his great business activity, left but a 
small estate at his death, out side of his land grants which were 
never confirmed by the United States, 

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF JULES DE MUN 



ents at Port au 
Prince in the Island 
of San Domingo, 25 
April 1782, and died at St. Louis, 15 August 1843. 

His family was of the ancient nobility of the old Province of 
Bigorre in the south of France. When quite young he was sent 
with his brother to France to be educated. The negro outbreak 
in San Domingo drove his parents from the island, and, France 
being then in the throes of the Revolution, they took refuge in 
England. Jules and his brother were sent for, and escaped from 
France in disguise in charge of a faithful family servant. The 




Appendix 295 

father, Jacques de Mun, died in England about the beginning of 
the nineteenth century. His widow remained in England until 
1808 when she brought her family to this country and made her 
home at Ste. Genevieve. 

Jules de Mun soon after established himself at St. Louis, and 
here, on 31 March 1812, he married Isabel, daughter of Charles 
Gratiot and Victoire Chouteau. In September 1815, de Mun went 
on a trading and trapping expedition to the head waters of the 
Arkansas River in partnership with August P. Chouteau, and 
some account of his adventures is given in a letter written by him 
to Governor Clark, which is printed in American State Papers 
Vol. 4, Foreign Relations, p. 207. Mr. de Mun removed with his 
family to Cuba in 18 19, and remained there, engaged in coffee 
planting, until 1830 when he returned to St. Louis. Shortly after 
his return he was appointed Secretary and Translator to the United 
States Board of Commissioners which was charged with the duty 
of adjusting the titles to French and Spanish land grants in Mis- 
souri, the duties of which positions he discharged with marked abil- 
ity. He was afterwards appointed Register of the United States Land 
Office at St. Louis, and later elected Recorder of Deeds of the 
County of St. Louis, which latter office he held at the time of his 
death. He left surviving his widow and five daughters. Madame 
de Mun died in St. Louis 13 July 1878. Four of the daughters 
married in St. Louis, Isabella, the eldest, to Edward Walsh, Esq.; 
Julia to Leon Chenie; Louisa to Robert A. Barnes, and Emelie to 
Charles Bland Smith, Clara, the youngest daughter, died unmar- 
ried. Descendants of Mrs. Walsh and Mrs. Chenie now live in 
St. Louis. 

OBITUARY NOTICE OF MATTHEW LYON 

Died, at Spadre Bluff, Arkansas Territory, on Thursday, the first 
of August, after a short illness. Colonel Matthew Lyon, United States' 
Factor for the Cherokee Nation on the Arkansas, aged 76 years. 

Colonel Lyon was born in Ireland but emigrated to America at 
a very early period of his life. He was one of the first settlers in 
Vermont, and married a daughter of one of the early governors of 
that State. During the Revolutionary war, he took an active part 
in support of the liberties and independence of his adopted country. 
After the war he was chosen to fill several important civil offices. 
He was a member of the Convention that formed the constitution 



2q6 Appendix 

of Vermont, and was several times elected to the Legislature of 
that State. About 1779 he was elected a Representative to Con- 
gress by the people of Vermont. 

Having been unsuccessful in an extensive manufacturing estab- 
lishment in which he was engaged in Vermont, and having a young 
and growing family to provide for, Col. L. determined to emi- 
grate to the Western Country. Accordingly about the year of 1802 
he removed to Eddyville, Kentucky, on the Cumberland river, 
where he was for some time extensively engaged in the exporting 
and ship building business. 

In 1803 he was elected a Representative in Congress from Ken- 
tucky, and was re-elected during the succeeding twelve years. He 
was also several times elected to the Legislature of that State. 

While in Congress, no man was more attentive to the interests 
of his constituents than Col. Lyon; he likewise evinced his usual 
zeal and patriotism on all important national questions. During 
20 years of his life he has been a member of different State Leg- 
islatures, was a member of Congress during 14 sessions, and has 
been a member of 7 or 8 Conventions raised for revolutionary pur- 
poses or for forming or amending State Constitutions. 

Having embarked his all in promoting improvements in his new 
settlement on the Cumberland, he, like many other enterprizing 
and useful men, was unfortunate, and in the decline of life, had 
the misfortune to find himself reduced from affluence to poverty. 
His friends having made his misfortunes known to the Executive, 
he was, in 1820 appointed to the situation, which he filled at the 
time of his death. 

About 6 or 7 months after his arrival in this Territory, an elec- ' 
tion took place for Delegate to Congress. He announced himself 
as a candidate, and notwithstanding his advanced age, the short 
time he had been in the territory, and the respectable standing of 
his opponent, he nearly succeeded in being elected. 

In private as well as public life, the character of Col. Lyon stood 
fair; his manners were calculated to make friends; he was frank, 
generous and sincere. {Missouri Intelligencer, Oct. 4, 1822 — From 
Arkansas Gazette.) 

For an account of Lyon's prosecution and imprisonment under 
the Sedition Law, of which he was the first victim, see 2 McMas- 
ter's History, pp. 399-402. Also Pliny H. White's Life and Ser- 
vices of Mattheiu Lyon, Burlington, 1858. 



297 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 



LIST OF BOOKS AND MANUSCRIPTS IN THE LIBRARY OF 

THE MISSOURI HISTORICAL SOCIETY, CONSULTED 

IN THE PREPARATION OF THIS VOLUME 

Abel, Annie Heloise. The History of Events Resulting in Indian 
Consolidation west of the Mississippi. In i Annual Report of 
the American Historical Association, 1906. 8vo. Washington, 
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AbneYj a. H. Life and Adventures of L. D. Lafferty. i2mo. Por- 
traits. New York, n. d. [1875]. 

American State Papers, Vol. II. Indian Affairs. Vol. 2. Folio. 
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American State Papers, Vol. IV. Foreign Relations. Folio. Wash- 
ington, 1834. 

Appleton's Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Edited by James 
Grant Wilson and John Fiske. 6 vols. Royal 8vo. New York, 
1888. 

Arkansas Historical Association, Publication of the. Vol. 3. 8vo. 
Fayetteville, 191 1. 

Audubon, Maria R. and Elliott Coues. Audubon and his Jour- 
nals. 2 Vols. 8vo. Ports. London, 1878. 

Bancroft, Hubert H. History of Arizona and New Mexico, 1530- 
1888. 8vo. San Francisco, 1889. 

Beauregard, Mrs. Henry Toutant. See Trudeau. 

Beck, Lewis C. A Gazeteer of the State of Illinois and Missouri. 
8vo. Illustrations and Maps. Albany, 1823. 

Beckwourth, James P. The Life and Adventures of, Mountaineer, 
Scout and Pioneer, and Chief of the Crow Nation of Indians. 
With Illustrations, Written from his own Dictation by T. D. 
Bonner. i2rao. New York, 1856. 

Billon, Frederic L. Annals of St. Louis In its Early Days Under 
the French and Spanish Dominations. 8vo. Portrait and Illus- 
trations. St. Louis, 1886. 

Annals of St. Louis in its Territorial Days from 1804 to 1821. 
8vo. Portrait and Illustrations. St. Louis, 1888. 

BoLLER, Henry A. Among the Indians; Eight Years in the Far 
West, 1858-1866. 8vo. Map. Philadelphia, 1868. 

Bolton, Herbert E. See de Mezieres. 

Brackenridge, Henry M. Views of Louisiana together with a Jour- 
nal of a Voyage up the Missouri In 181 1. 8vo. Pittsburgh, 1814. 
Same (second edition) in Early Western Travels. Edited by 
Reuben G. Thwaltes. 

Recollections of Persons and Places in the West. 2nd Ed. i2mo. 
Philadelphia, 1868. 



298 ' Bibliography 

Bradbury, John. Travels in the Interior of America in the year 
1809, 1810 and 1811. 8vo. Liverpool, 1817. 
Same in Early Western Travels. 

Bryan, Wm. S. and Robert Rose. A history of the Pioneer Fami- 
lies of Missouri, with numerous Sketches, Anecdotes, Adven- 
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INDEX 



Adams, Calvin, 230 n. 

Adams, James, mentioned, 230; 
sketch, 230 n. ; charged with 
embezzlement, 235 

American Fur Co., 177 n., 273 

American State Papers, cited 
52 n., 83 n. 

Arbuckle, Col. Mathew, 107 n. 

Arkopolis, now Little Rock, 100 n. 

Ashley, William H., 265 

Astor, John J., 273 

Atkinson, Henr}^ letter to, 52 n. 

Audubon, John J., cited, 30 n, 

Austin, Daniel H., 184 n. 

Austin, Stephen, 100 n. 

Ayers, visits James, 39 ff; pri- 
vations of, 42 ; reaches Man- 
uel's Fort, 44; killed, 73; not 
identified, 73 n. ; body found, 

74 
Ayers, Ebenezer, 73 n. 
Ayers, George, 73 n. 
Au Post, James reaches, 98; 

mentioned, 98 n., 100 

Baird, James, returns from Santa 

Fe, 95 ; sketch of, 292 ff. 
Baird, J. W., 293 
Bancroft, Hubert H., quoted, 

139 n. 
Barbour, Capt., Indian trader, 

109 ff. ; died in New Orleans, 

192 
Barbour's Trading House, 191 ; 

mentioned, 223, 234 
Bates, Frederick, 191 n. 
Bates, James W., 191 n. 
Batesville (Mo.), 191, 191 n. 
Baum, Peter, returns from Santa 

Fe, 95, 106 
Beard. See Baird 
Beaurosier. See Dunnegant 
Beauvais, Therese St. G., 263 



Beaver Creek, 116 n. 

Becknell, Capt. William, jour- 
nal referred to, 96 n. ; adven- 
tures of party, 175 n; quoted, 
175 n. 

Beckwourth, James P., quoted, 
145 n. 

Belcher, Dr. William N., 184 n. 

Bellefontaine, 72 n,, 256 

Biddle, Maj. Thomas, letter of, 
52 n., 83 n. 

Bisseil, Elisa, 264 

Bissell, Gen. William H., 8 

Bissonette, Antoine, 286 

Blanc-bec, meaning of, 20 n. 

Bonhomme Settlement, St. Louis 
District, 27 n. 

Boundary between U. S. and 
Mexico, 156 

Boone, Daniel, mentioned, 45, 58 

Brackenridge, H. M., quoted, 
23 n., 31 n.. Ill n., 248 

Bradbury, John, quoted, 32 n., 
57 n., 81 n., 249 n., 279 

Bradford, Maj. William, com- 
mandant at Ft. Smith, 105 ff. ; 
sketch of, 105 n. 

Bradley, journal quoted, 54 n. 

Brady, Thomas, 94; sketch of, 

95 n- 

Bright, Samuel, 184 n. 

Brown, James, 279 

Brown, William, hunter, 27, 27 
n. ; left ashore, 28 ; at Fort, 
46; snow-blind, 48; saves par- 
ty from Snake Indians, 50; 
traps on Missouri River, 66; 
canoe upsets, 69 ; sent for help, 
70 

Brown, William, murderer of 
Chavez, executed, 157 n. 

Bryan, James, one of founders of 
Little Rock, 100 n. 

305 



306 



Index 



Bryan, Rebecca, 264 

Bryan, William, of Phila., ac- 
companies Colter, 43, 65 and 
note 

Calama, Indian pipe, 204 

Cardinal, Jean Marie, 200 n. 

Carpentier, Marie, mentioned, 
38 n. 

Carson, Kit, 155 n. ; home in 
Taos, 163 n. 

Caruthers, Hamilton, 98 n. 

Chambers, William, returns from 
Santa Fe, 95, 292 ff. 

Charbonniere Road, St. Louis 
County, 98 n. 

Chassin, Charlotte, mentioned, 
36 n. 

Chavez, Antoine, murdered, 157, 
157 n. 

Chavez, Francisco, 157, 157 n. 

Chavis. See Chavez. 

Checoba, war horse, given to 
James, 227 ; bitten by rattle- 
snake, 229 ; James charged 
with stealing, 231 

Cheek, James, mentioned, 21 and 
note; sketch of, 22; ordered 
to leave boats, 16; anecdote 
concerning, 36; whips Irish- 
man, 22; whips Ride, 36 ff. ; 
threatens Chouteau and Lisa, 
46; depressed, 63; mentioned, 
65; fears of, 66 ff. ; prepares 
camp, 73 ; death of, 74 

Chittenden, Hiram M., cited, 21 
n., 32 n., 96 n., 65 n. 

Chouteau, Col. Auguste, testi- 
mony of, 14 n. 

Chouteau, Auguste Aristide, 
mentioned, 39 n. 

Chouteau, Paul Liguest, men- 
tioned, 38 n., 39 n. ; subpoe- 
naed as witness, 93 n. 

Chouteau, Auguste P., member 
of St. Louis Missouri Fur Co., 
16; mentioned, 38 n., 39 n., 
256, 262; commands expedi- 
tion, 97 ; rescues Becknell par- 
ty, 175 n. ; meets James, 177; 



threatens Indians for stealing, 
178; sketch of, 258 

Chouteau, Pelagie, 261 

Chouteau, Pierre, member of St. 
Louis Missouri Fur Co., 16; 
commands expedition, 17; or- 
ders Cheek to leave boat, 26 ; 
sends for Arickaree Chief, 29; 
sons of, 38 n. ; orders men to 
fire on Americans, 38; Cheek 
threatens life of, 46 ; men- 
tioned, 65 n., 273 ; trading 
house, 183, 183 n. ; sketch of, 
256; letters to William Eustis, 
273 ff. 

Chouteau, Pierre, cadet, men- 
tioned, 38 n. 

Chouteau, VIctoire, 262 

Ciree, Marie Francois, dit St. 
Michel, 263 

Clamorgan, Jacques, mentioned, 
96 ; sketch of, 293 

Clark, member of James' party 
on second trip to Southwest, 
197; an obstinate man, 197; 
went with John McKnight to 
Comanches, 197; excited fear 
of Indians, 198 

Clark, Daniel, Jr., mentioned, 
38 n., 294 

Clark, Frances E., 218 n. 

Clark, John, 260 

Clark, Meriwether Lewis, 261 

Clark, William, member of St. 
Louis Missouri Fur Co., 16 n. ; 
letters to, xd n., 18 n. ; sues 
James, 92 n. ; letter of, 184 n. ; 
mentioned, 250 n. ; biographi- 
cal sketch of, 260 

Clermont's Village, 183 183 n., 
184 n. 

Cochran, Dennis, 16 n. 

Collins, John, 16 n., 272 

Colter, John, at Gros Ventre vil- 
lage, 35; guide, 49; mentioned, 
50; snow-blind, 51; messenger 
to Blackfeet, 51 n. ; wounded 
in battle, 53 ; escape men- 
tioned, 54; meeting with Lisa 
in 1807 referred to, 57; de- 



Index 



307 



scribed, 58 ; attacked by Black- 
feet, 59; race for life, 60 ff. ; 
second adventure, 64; decides 
to leave mountains, 65 ; goes 
with Bryan to St. Louis, 65 ; 
arrival in St. Louis, 6S\ 
James' debt to, 93 ; adminis- 
trator sues James, 93 n. ; bio- 
graphical sketch of, 278 

Colter, Sail)', wife of John, 279 

Cooper, Braxton, 168 n. 

Cooper, Benjamin, 168, 168 n. 

Cooper, Stephen, 168 168 n. 

Cote Sans Dessein, 20, 20 n., 186 

Cox, Ross, cited, 78 n. 

Creely, Julie, 98 n. 

Crittenden, Robert, Secretary, 
103 ; sketch, 103 n. 

Creoles of Florissant, 14; of 
Kaskaskia and St. Louis, 16 

Crooks, Capt. Ramsay, agent for 
Astor, 24 ; mentioned, 262 ; bio- 
graphical sketch of, 273 

Crooks, William, 273 

Cross Timbers, 194, 194 n., 233 

Cunigam, encounters Osage In- 
dians, 137; looks for stolen 
horses 179 

Cuesta, 131 n. 

Custer County, Mont., 42 n. 

Dabne}', Mildred, wife of Reu- 
ben Lewis, 260 

Dalton, Mary Louise, cited, 38 n. 

Davis, Jefferson, 107 n. 

Davis, William W. H., cited, 
134 n. ; quoted, 160 n. 

Davis Family, 249 n. 

de Mezieres, Athanase, quoted, 
114 n. 

Demun, Jacques, 295 

Demun, Jules, commands expe- 
dition, 97, 258; biographical 
sketch of, 294 

Demun Family, 295 

Denison, left in charge of pe- 
roque, 235 



de Smet, Pierre, J., S. J., quoted, 
81 n. 

Dennis, Fitzhugh, mentioned, 16 

Descamps, Angelique, 285 

Deserters, mention of, 19, 20; 
list of, 272 

Desnoyer, Veronique, dit, men- 
tioned, 36 n. 

Diamond Hill, Ark., loi 

Dickson, Joseph, 278 

Dodge, Rev. Nathaniel B., mis- 
sionary, 184 n. 

Doniphan, Alexander, W^., 281 

Dougherty, John, at Fort Man- 
uel, 46; fords Gallatin River, 
50; traps on Missouri River, 
66 ; quotes poetry, 69 ; sent for 
relief, 70; members of Henry'i 
party, 83 n. ; sketch of, 279; 
family, 282 

Drouillard, Geo., hunter, killed, 
80; mentioned, 283; sketch of, 
285 

Drumm, Stella M., acknowledg- 
ments to, 10 

Druyer. See Drouillard, George 

Dunnegant, dit Beaurosier, Fran- 
cois, 14 n. 

Dwight Mission, James refused 
food at, 241 ff. ; sketch of, 241 

Eagle Chief Creek, iii n., 112 n. 
Easton, Mary, wife of Geo. C. 

Sibley, 181 n. 
Easton, Rufus, mentioned, 58 n. 
Eau Post. See Au Post 
Emmell. See Immell 
Emory, William H., cited, 132 n., 

143 n., 177 n. 
Eustis, William, Secretary of 

War, letters of Chouteau to, 

30 n., 273 
Ewers' Creek, 115 n. 

Finch, 159 

Finney, Rev. Alfred, missionary, 

241 n. 
Fleehart, missing, 75, 75 n. 
Flint, Timothy, quoted, 182 n. 



308 



Index 



Florissant (Mo.), sketch of, i+n. ; 

mentioned, 98 n. 
Floyd, Charles, 249 n. 
Floyd Family, 249 n. 
Forts — 

Clark, 181 n. 

Fiery-Prairie, notice of, 181 n. 
Gibson, 107 n., 240 n., 256 fit. 
James, begins to build on North 
Canadian, 195 abandons un- 
completed fort, 197; on new 
site, 197 197 n. 
Manuel, mentioned, 17, 39, 
44 flF., 39, 44 ff., 48, 63 ; erect- 
ed at the three forks, 53 ; 
described, 53 n. and 54 n. ; 
party returns to, 75 ; defense 
of completed, 78 
Osage, 181 n., 260 
Fort Smith, Ark., mentioned, 105, 

105 n. 
Fowler, Jacob, quoted, 98 n. ; 
cited, 109 n., 137 n., 161 n., 
167 n., 168 n., 174 n., 249 n. 
Franchere, Gabriel, cited, 78 n. 
Fredericktown (Mo.), 191 n. 

Gallatin, Abraham, brother of 
Albert, 250 n. 

Gayarre, Charles, cited, 36 n. 

Glass, Hugh, 41, 266 

Glenn, Hugh, mentioned, 8, 9 ; 
at Indian village, 108 ff . ; 
sketch of, 108 n. ; visits James 
at Santa Fe, 147 ; buys goods 
from James, 157; leaves Santa 
Fe with James, 161; conver- 
sion, 161; insincerity, 163; 
fright of, 167; leaves James' 
party, 175; sells furs at St. 
Louis and goes to Cincinnati, 
174, 187; mentioned, 175, 249 
n. 

Glineau, Nicholas, crossed moun- 
tains with Henry, 83 n. 

Godin, Therese, daughter of 
Michel, 263 

Graham Family, 184 n. 

Graham, John, 184 n. 



Graham, John A., subpoenaed as 

witness, 93 n. 
Graham, Col. Richard, Indian 

agent, 187, 187 n. 
Gratiot, Charles, mentioned, 16, 

262 
Gratiot, VIctoIre, 262 
Great Osage Mission, 184 n. 
Gregg, Josiah, cited, 96 n., 106 

n., 130 n., 175 n., 194 n., 197 n. 
Griffin, Eleanor, mentioned, 95 n. 

Hancock, Forest, 278 

Hancock, Julia, daughter Gen, 
George Hancock, 261 

Harmony Mission, 184 n. 

Harrison, Capt. Thomas, men- 
tioned, 7 

Harrlsonville, Illinois, location 
of, 95 95 n. 

Hatre, Antoine de, trader, 176; 
sketch of, 176 n. 

Hatre (or Hetre), Louis de, 
176 n. 

Hector, Frederick, accompanies 
James, 98 

Hempstead, Fay, cited, 100 n. 

Henry, Major Andrew, member 
of St. Louis Missouri Fur Co., 
16; tent of, 37; prevents at- 
tack on Americans, 38; men- 
tioned, 54 n., 78 n. ; prepares 
to cross mountains, 83 ; sketch 
of, 265 ; letter to Valle, 282 

Henry, George, 265 

Henry Famllj', 266 

Hertzog, Mary, daughter of Jo- 
seph, 281 

Hlldredth, James, cited, 107 n., 
236 n. 

Horseflies kill horses, 233 

Hosten, Elizabeth, mother of 
James, mentioned, 6 

Hoback, John, member of Hen- 
ry's party, 83 n. 

Hodge, Frederick W., cited, 15 
n., 132 n. 

Hopkins, Samuel, 181 n. 

Houck, Louis, cited, 103 n., 181 
n., 184 n., 256 



Index 



309 



Houston, Gen. Samuel, 236 n., 
257 

Howard, Alexander, accompa- 
nies James, 98 

Huberdeau, Euphrosine, 264 

Hudson's Bay Co., emissaries 
among Tetons, 26 ; agents at 
Gros Ventres village, 31 

Hull, prepares camp, 73 and 
note ; missing, 74 

Hunt, Col. Thomas, 72 n. 

Immell, Michael E., at Fort, 72; 

sketch of, 72 n. ; ignorant of 

attack on camp, 74; member 

of Henry's party, 83 n. 
Inman, Col. Henry, cited, 96 n. 
Indian Chiefs — 

Alasarea, the Towash, 199, 
201, 207, 213, 225; gives 
James his war horse, 227 

Big Star, 118; protects James, 
119 fF. ; gives up sword to 

One-e3ed chief, 120 flF. ; takes 
no part in council, 122 

Cordaro, Comanche chief, 
meets party, 125 ff . ; warns 
Americans, 128 ff. ; visits 
Jam.es at Santa Fe, 137; of- 
fers to give horses, loi ; 
characteristics, 139; James' 
promises to, 203, 208 

Friendly chief, 115; invites 
James to his village, 117; 
advises party to stay, 119; 
takes no part in council, 122 

K i o w a y chief interrogates 
Mexicans, 171 

Lechat, chief of Utes, 145 

One-eyed chief, 115; unfriend- 
ly to traders, 119; demands 
of, 120 ff. ; in Comanche vil- 
lage, 202; comes to James' 
lodge, 206 ; adopts James, 
211; restores stolen horses, 
216; again protects James, 
219; kindness to James, 222 

Pawnee, tells of exploits 
against Osages, 172 



Indian Chiefs — 

Rogers, James, Cherokee, kind- 
ness of, 239 ; sketch of, 239 
n. ; mentioned, 244 

Rogers, John, Cherokee, feeds 
James' party, 236; sketch of, 
236 n. 

Shehaka, Mandan chief, men- 
tioned, 15, 16, 17; received 
by his tribe, 30; biographi- 
cal sketch of, 248 ; contract 
to convey home, 266 

White Bear, leads attacking 
Indians, 123 ff. 

White Hair, Osage chief, how 
acquired name, 182 n. ; vil- 
lage of, 182 n. 
Indian Tribes — 

Ampireka, band of Comanches, 
210 

Arikarees, 2, 3; village of, 28; 
council with, 29 ; mentioned, 
248 

Arripahoes, 171 

Blackfeet, 31; battlefield, 52; 
called "Arabs," 53 ; attack 
Colter & Potts, 59 ; second 
attack on Colter, 64; attack 
trapping party on Jefferson 
River, 73 ; prevent hunting, 
83; at war with Crows, 84; 
mentioned, 88 

Caddoes, 199 n.; adventure 
with, 230 

Comanches, mentioned, 23 ; 
called Pawnees, 99; rob 
James party, 114 ff., 114 n. ; 
demand presents, 118 ff . ; 
decide to kill party, 123 ff. ; 
wish to trade with Ameri- 
cans, 137; tombs of, 165; 
mentioned, 171 ; Osage ex- 
pedition against, 195; lamen- 
tations of, 203 ; sometimes 
called Pawnees, 232, 232 n. ; 
called Pawnees by Ameri- 
cans, 245 

Cherokee country, 104, 104 n. ; 
hospitality of, 236 ff. 

Creeks, 237 



310 



Index 



Indian Tribes — 

Crows, battlefield, 52 ; camp on 
Clark's River, 84; singular 
manner in crossing river, 85 

Flat-heads, battlefield, 53; 
"Spartans" of Oregon, 53 

Gros Ventres (Minnltaree and 
Hidasta), neighbors of Man- 
dans, 31, 31 n. ; village of, 
66 ; kill Snake woman and 
son, 46 ; on Twenty-five 
Yard River, 84; rob cache, 
86; village, 89; singular 
customs among, 90; lan- 
guage of, 91 

Kioway agency, 114 n. 

Mandans, village of, 29, 29 n., 

39 

Mohaws (Omahas), hunting 
with Sioux chiefs, 24 

Navahoes at war with Span- 
iards, 91; skill of, 106; at 
war with Mexicans, 147; 
send emissary to Governor's 
treatment of, 149 ; treacher- 
ously killed by Spaniards, 
149; destroy settlements, 150 

Osages at war, 106 ; Osage 
road, 107; mentioned, 113; 
trade with Americans, 137; 
robbed Santa Fe companies, 
i75> 17s n-» iSo, 223 

Pawnees at war with, 172 ff. ; 
meet James party, 176; re- 
vengeful, 178 ; escort Sibley, 
181 n. ; camp deserted, 195; 
mentioned, 218 ff. ; encamp- 
ed on Salt Fork, 224; treaty 
with, 260; attack Quapaws, 
99; meets James party, 170; 
mentioned, 169 n,, 175; wish 
to scalp Mexicans, 172; de- 
nounce James at Comanche 
village, 218 

Peccas, village, 132; attend 
Mexican celebration, 105 

Quapaw, country of, 99 ; de- 
feat Comanches, 93 

Shawnee s, I.uthecaw, 77 ; 
Shawnees killed, 80; from 



Indian Tribes — 

Kaskaskia, 89; Placota in 
trouble with Gros Ventres, 
89 
Sioux, 35 

Snake, weakest of western In- 
dians, 47, 84; visit party of 
hunters, 51. 
Tetons, village, 12 ; Towash, 

199, 199 n. 
Utahs (Ute), 145 ff. 

Irishman whipped by Cheek, 22 ; 
Gardner at Fort, 32 

Irving, Washington, cited, 57 n. 

Iturbide, to be elected Mexican 
president, 131 

Ivy, John, member of James' 
party, 98 ; went with John Mc- 
Knight to Comanches, 197; 
I'eturned with news, 198; went 
back with Robert McKnight, 
199; well treated by Indians, 
203 

James, Dr, Edwin, cited, 130 n. 

James, John G., accompanies his 
brother, 98 ; sketch of, 98 n. ; 
goes to Osage village, 108 ; 
prepares for fight, 123 

James, Joseph Austin, mentioned, 
6 

James, Samuel, referred to, 98 n. 

James, Thomas, biographical de- 
tails, 6, 7, 14, 94. 188, 189, 
245-7; enlists with Fur Com- 
pany, 16; contract with com- 
pany, 17, 271 ; starts from St. 
Louis, 18; captain of barge, 
18; hunting adventure, 27; at 
Mandan village, 30; trouble 
with company, 33; purchases 
gun, etc., from Colter, 35; 
starts for headwaters of Mis- 
souri, 39; builds cabin, 40; de- 
serted by companions, 40; 
starts for Fort Manuel, 41 ; 
five days without food, 42 ; 
reaches the fort, 45; starts for 
"the forks," 47; snow-blind, 
50; reaches the forks, 53; 
starts down the river, 67; 



Index 



311 



alarm at Indians, 71 ; return 
to fort, 73 ; goes down the Yel- 
lowstone, 84; reaches Gros 
Ventre's village, 89; starts for 
home and arrives at St. Louis, 
91; sues company, 92; starts 
for New Mexico, 98 ; licensed 
to trade with Indians, 102 ; 
stops at Fort Smith, 105 ; vis- 
its Osage village, 108; robbed 
by Comanches, 115; robbed a 
second time, 118; threatened 
with death, 122 ; rescued by 
Mexicans, 127; reaches Santa 
Fe, 131; celebrates Mexican 
Independence, 140 ; starts for 
home, 161; separates from 
Glenn, 175 ; meets Chouteau at 
Osage village, 177; horses sto- 
len, 183; visits Missionary sta- 
tion, 184; arrives at home, 
188; undertakes a venture to 
the Comanches, 190; journeys 
by land, 191 ; begins to build 
fort, 195; abandons uncom- 
pleted fort and goes up the 
river, 197; stop and build fort, 
197; visits Comanche village, 
201 ; adopted as brother by 
One-ej'ed chief, 211; returns to 
fort, 215; horse Checoba given 
him, 227; starts for home, 228; 
loses horses, 229, 231; Checoba 
bitten by rattlesnoke, 229 ; 
meets Caddo Indians, 230; 
leaves horses and peltry, 245 ; 
obtains food from John Rog- 
ers, 236; from James Rogers, 
239; from an old Cherokee, 
240; refused food by mission- 
aries, 242 ; reaches home, 244 

James' Peak, 130 

Jameson, John, Indian agent, 
92, 126, 126 n. ; Cordaro's 
great friend, 128 ; gives pres- 
ents to Cordaro, 139 

Johnston, Gen. Albert Sidney, 
mentioned, 7 

Jones, Amasa, 184 n. 



Jones, John Rice, mentioned, 95 
n. 

Kane, Elias K., senator of Illi- 
nois, 131 

Kaskaskia, Indians from, 63 

Kendall, George W., quoted, 43; 
describes sufferings from star- 
vation, 54 ff., 194 n. 

Kiersereau, Pelagie, 257, 258 

Kirker, Anne Jane, daughter of 
David, 98 n. 

Kirker, David, accompanies 
James, 98 ; sketch, 98 n. ; gives 
up gun, 124 

Kirker, James, 98 n., 155 n. 

Koch, Peter, quoted, 54 n. 

Labadie, Sophie, 259 

Labadie, Sylvestre, member of 
St. Louis Missouri Fur Co., 
i6\ prevents injury to Ameri- 
cans, 38; mentioned, 260; 
sketch of, 261; mentioned, 273 

L'Abbadieu. See Labadie. 

Lalande, Baptiste, 264 

Lansdell, James, 98 n. 

Laperche, dit, St. John, 81 n. 

Larrison, Daniel, subpoenaed as 
witness, 93 n. 

Lasource, Catherine Thaumur, 
dit, 264 

Latrobe, Charles J., quoted, 176 
n., 184 n., 259 

Laut, Agnes C, cited, 163 n. 

Lee, Patrick, 218 n. 

Leroy. See Roy 

Lewis, Meriwether, governor, 15; 
said to have interest in Fur 
Co., 16; mentioned, 52 n., 260 

Lewis, Reuben, member St. Louis 
Missouri Fur Co., 16; on 
James' barge, 18; gives alarm, 
21 ; orders Cheek to leave gun, 
26; advises James, 92; bio- 
graphical sketch of, 260 

Lewis and Clark, return of, 14; 
meet Valle, 38 n. ; mentioned, 
49, 49 n. ; Flat Heads kind to, 
53; a hunter of, 80; Journal 



312 



Index 



cited, 117 n. ; mentioned, 248 
ff. ; permission granted Colter, 
279; hunter of, 285 

Lisa, Manuel, member St. Louis 
Missouri Fur Co., 16; letters 
to Clark, 16 n., 18 n. ; sketch 
of, 17; part in expedition, 18; 
altercation with Americans, 
21; offers James traps, 35; life 
threatened, 46; returns to St. 
Louis, 47 ; described, 47 ; 
Blackfeet friendly to, 52 n. ; 
stockade, 54 n. ; boat left by, 
86; blamed by James, 92; 
mentioned, 183 n. ; biographi- 
cal sketch of, 257; mentioned, 
264, 278, 285, 293 

Little Rock, made capital of Ark- 
ansas, 100, 100 n. 

Loisel, Regis, 294 

Long, Stephen, 105 n., 107 n. 

Louisiana Gazette, cited, 18 n., 
96 n., 286 

Luthecaw, a Shawnee, attacked 
by bear, 77 

Lyon, Matthew, 73 ; met by 
James at Little Rock, 102 ; 
trading house at the Spadre, 
238; grave of, 240; obituary 
notice of, 295 

McClellan, Robert, 262, 272 
McClintock, Walter, cited, 52 n. 
McDaniel, James, goes with 

James, 35; mentioned, 39; 

start back to Fort, 40; killed, 

41 

McDaniel, John, murderer of 
Chavez, executed, 157 n. 

McDonald, John, quoted, 29 n. 

Mackay, John Z., married wid- 
ow Kirker, 98 n. 

McKnight, John, mentioned, 9 ; 
sketch of, 94; goes to join 
brother, 97 ; entertained by 
Maj. Bradford, 106 ; trades 
with Osages, 109 ; drinks blood 
of buffalo, 116; impatient to 
fire, 123 ; goes to Durango, 



136; leaves Santa Fe, 160; 
loses horses, 177; goes to Gov- 
ernment factory, 183; to mis- 
sionary station, 184; tries to 
secure employment for James, 
190; starts on second expedi- 
tion, 191 ; searches for Co- 
manches, 196; fails to return, 
199; called "White-haired 
man," 219; mentioned, 204, 
222, 227 

McKnight, Robert, goes to Santa 
Fe, 95 ; imprisoned and goods 
confiscated at Chihuahua, 96; 
at Durango, 136; case of, 154; 
returned to Mexico, 155 n. ; 
trouble with Finch, 159; leaves 
Santa Fe, 160; joins his 
brother on another expedition, 
191; at Comanche village, 
199; characteristics of, 201; 
meets Indians, 230; at mis- 
sionary station, 242 

McKnight, Timothy, mentioned, 
95 n. 

McKnight and Brady, partners 
of James in Illinois, 94 

McLanahan, J. letter of, 289 

Malgaris, Don Facundo, govern- 
or, 141 ff., 141 n. ; orders out 
militia, 150, 152; declines to 
pay James, 158 

Manuel's Fort, at junction of Big 
Horn and Yellowstone, 17, 39, 
44 ff., 48, 63 ; erected at the 
three forks, 53 ; described, 53 n. 
and 54 n. ; party returns to, 
75 ; defense of, completed, 78 

Maesaw, Francois, accompanies 
James, 98, 98 n. ; warns James, 
119, 125 

Marcheteau, dit Desnoyer, Ve- 
ronique, mentioned, 36 n. 

Marcy, Col. R. B., cited, 105 n. 

Marie, Canadian, wounded by 
bear, 8i ff. ; not identified, 
81 n. 

Marmaduke, Col. Meredith, jour- 
nal cited, 96 n. 



Index 



313 



Mason, William, murderer of 
Chavez, became State's evi- 
dence, 157 n. 

Masson, L. R., cited, 30 n. 

Matthews, Dr. Washington, 
quoted, 91 n. 

Maumel Mountain, mentioned, 
104, 104 n. 

Mavvhatonga, meaning of, 176 

Maximilian, Prince of Wied, 
cited, 30 n., 91 n. 

Menard, Pierre, of St. Louis 
Missouri Fur Co., 16; part 
in expedition, 18; with 
letter from and interview, 
21 n. ; prevents attack on 
Americans, 38; in command 
of Fort Manuel, 46 ; esteemed 
by men, 47 ; mention of, 65 n. ; 
sends for assistance, 70; de- 
cides not to pursue Indians, 
75; goes to Clark's River, 83; 
suspects Gros Ventres, 84 ; in 
one of the boats, 86 ; pacifies 
Gros Ventres, 90; returns to 
St. Louis, 91; biographical 
sketch of, 263 ; mentioned, 265 ; 
interview with, 283 

Mexican Indians, characteriza- 
tion of, 144 

Mexican Revolution, mentioned, 
97; first news of, 131; inde- 
pendence celebrated, 139 ff., 
139 n. 

Michau, Sally, wife of Calvin 
Adams, 230 n. 

Michel, Agnes, mentioned, 36 n. 

Miller, Gov. James, out of ter- 
ritory, 103 

Miller, William, accompanies 
James, 35, 35 n., 39; starts 
back to Fort, 40; killed, 41 

Millikln, Hannah, 78 n. 

Mines, Washington Co., Mo., 
190, 190 n. 

Missionary Herald, 241 n. 

Missions: Dwight, 241 n. ; Great 
Osage, 184 n. ; Harmony, 184 
n. ; Union, 241 n. 



Missiouri Historical Review, 
cited, 96 n. 

Missouri Historical Society Col- 
lections, cited, 15 n., 38 n., 
96 n., 175 n., 248, 257, 261 

Missouri Intelligencer, cited, 184 
n. 

Molhausen, Baldwin, cited, 131 n. 

Montana Historical Society con- 
tributions, 49 n., 54 n., 81 n. 

Montgomery, Rev. Wm. B., mis- 
sionary, 184 n. 

Morgan, Clem. See Clamorgan, 
Jacques 

Morris, Gouverneur, mentioned, 
38 n. 

Morrison, John, 264 

Morrison, William, member St. 
Louis Missouri Fur Co., 16; 
sketch of, 263 ff. 

Morrison, Samuel, erroneously 
stated to be member of Fur 
Company, \(,\ sketch of, 265 

Morrison Family, 265 

MuUanphy, Catherine, wife of 
Richard Graham, 187 n. 

Neihardt, John G, quoted, 42 n. 
Newton, Samuel, 184 n. 
Niles, Nathaniel, sketch of, 8 
North Dakota Historical Society, 

collections cited, 249 
Nuttall. Thomas, cited, 99 n., 

104 n., 108 n. 

O'Fallon, Benjamin, mentioned, 
218; sketch of, 218 n, 

O'Fallon, Dr. James, 218 n. 

O'Fallon's Bluffs, 218 n. 

O'Hara, William, one of found- 
ers of Little Rock, 100 n. 

Ortiso, Don Francisco, engaged 
as guide, 153, 158 

Ortiso, Thomas, Spaniard, 131; 
tells of Mexican Revolution, 
131; takes James to Governor, 
136; mentioned, 148, 152 

Oul (Oulle), Francois, mention- 
ed, 73 n. (See Hull.) 



314 



Index 



Onis, Don Luis de, Spanish min- 
ister, 70 
Osage Road, 107 n. 

Palliser, John, quoted, 18 n. 

Papin, Pierre Mellicourt, 183 n. 

Pecos (Peccas), Pueblo, 132 fiF., 
132 n, 

Pelche, with Chouteau, 176, 176 
n. 

Pelton, Archibald, a Yankee, 78 ; 
sketch of, 78 n. ; adventure 
with bear, 79; crossed moun- 
tains with Henr}^, 83 n, 

Pelton, David, Revolution arj' sol- 
dier, 78 n. 

Peltier, Henry, 177 n. 

Pike, Gen. Zebulon, in Mexico, 
96; Peak, 106 n., 130 n. ; 
quoted 141 n. 

Pino, buys James' goods, 156 

Pixley, Rev. Benton, missionary, 
184 n. 

Potter, Benjamin, accompanies 
James, 98, 98 n.; goes with 
John McKnight to Comanche 
camp, 197 ff, ; safe, 202; 
alarmed at actions of One- 
eyed chief, 206 

Potts, John, Colter's companion, 
58 ; member of Lewis and 
Clark's party, 58 n. ; killed by 
Blackfeet, 59 

Pratte, Emelie, 273 

Price, Capt. Daniel, 7 

Pryor, Capt. Nathaniel, escort 
for Chief Shehaka, 15, 17; 
mentioned, 29 ; with Osage In- 
dians, 108; mentioned, 113, 
248, 258 ; biographical sketch 
of, 249 

Radford, Mrs. Harriet Kennerly, 
261 

Raines, C. W. cited, 56 

Ramsay, Margaret, 273 

Raton Mountains, 107 n. 

Reasoner, Jacob, crosses moun- 
tains with Henry, 83 n. 

Richards, partners of Pryor, 249 



Ride, Francois, quarrels with 

Cheek, 36 ff. ; sketch of, 36 n. ; 

whipped by Cheek, 38 
Ride, Laurent, mentioned, 36 n. 
Ride, Louis, mentioned, 36 n. 
Rivers — 

Arkansas, ascending, 98 ; veg- 
etation along, 100; mention- 
ed, 105 n., 115, 116 n., 168 n., 
175, 191 ff., 240 n. 

Big Horn, 17, 40, 66, 81, 86, 
formerly called Judith, 261 

Canadian, north fork of 115 
n. ff., 130, 191, 196, 208, 228 

Cimmaron, 106, iii, 115 n. 

Clark's, 83, 83 n,; party reach, 
84 

Columbia, 83, 83 n., 86 

Del Norte, mentioned, 83 n., 
150; dividing line, 156 

Gallatin, 50; confluence of, 53; 
mentioned, 61, 81 n. 

Grand (Neosho), called "Six 
Bulls," 107, 107 n., 181 

Gunpowder, branch of Yellow- 
stone, 41 ; described, 42 n. 

Illinois, 234, 234 n. 

Jacques, 25, 25 n. 

Jefferson, confluence of, 53 ; 
mentioned, 64, 71, 73 ; trap- 
ping on, (,(,, 79 

Little Arkansas, 180, 180 n. 

Little Missouri, 41 

Little Red, in Arkansas, 244, 
244 n. 

Madison, confluence with Mis- 
souri, 53 ; mentioned, 76 

Mississippi, 97 

Missouri, 14; head-waters of, 
17; cordelling on, 18; scen- 
ery along Upper Missouri, 
22; forks of, 39, 40, 56, 166; 
country between it and Co- 
lumbia, 68 ; mentioned, 87 

Nachatoshauwa, or Red River, 
204 

Neosho, 107 n., 181, 181 n., 
240 n. 

Osage, 183, 184 n. 



Index 



315 



Rivers — 

Peccas (Pecos), town on, 131 

Platte, 19, 20, 20 n. 

Poteau, 105 n. 

Powder. See Gunpowder 

Red River, 204 

Salt Fork, 106, 106 n. ; de- 
scribed, III, 115; village on, 
210; Osages camp on 224 

Salt Branch, 112 n. 

Shields, or Twenty-five Yard, 
81 n. 

Six Bulls, 107, 107 n. ; Spa- 
dre, 186 

Twenty-five Yard (Shield's), 
81 n,; Gros Ventres on, 84 

Verdigris, 107, 107 n. 

Yellowstone, mentioned, 17, 42, 
45, 58, 81, 8in., 83, 83 n., 84, 
86 
Robinson, Edward, crossed moun- 
tains with Henry, 83 n. 
Robinson, Mariah, wife of David 

Kirker, 98 n. 
Rogers, ferryman at mouth of 

Osage, 186; horses left with, 

188 
Rogers, Ann, 260 
Rogers, James, Cherokee, kind- 
ness of, 239; sketch of, 239 n. ; 

mentioned, 244 
Rogers, John, Cherokee, feeds 

James' party, 236; sketch of, 

236 n. 
Roy, Antoine, 162 n. 
Roy, John Baptiste Antoine, 

Glenn's godfather, 162 

Rucker, , missing, 75, 75 n. 

Russell, William, of St. Louis, 

owned site of Little Rock, 101 ; 

sketch of, loi n. 
Rust, Elam, mentioned, 10 
Ruxton, George F,, cited, 130 n. 

Sabin, Edwin L. cited, 163 n. 
St. Charles, 72 n. 
St. Ferdinand, Mo. See Floris- 
sant 
St, Francisville, 191, 191 n. 



St. John, Canadian, 81, 81 n. ; 
saves companion, 82 

St. Louis Directory, quoted, 27 n. 

St. Louis Enquirer, cited, 293 

St. Louis Missouri Fur Co., or- 
ganized, 14; sells whiskey, 89; 
articles of agreement, 250 ff. 

Salt Plains, no fF. 

Salt Works, 234 

San Felipe, village, 143, 143 n. 

San Miguel, Spanish town, 132, 
132 n., 164 

Santa Fe, James' arrival, 134 ff., 
134 n. ; entered, 136 

Santa Fe trade, references, 96 n. 

Santa Fe traders robbed, 223 

Saucier, Brigitte, wife of Pierre 
Chouteau, 257 

Saucier, Francois, 257 

Scharf, J. Thomas, cited, 98 n. 

Schoolcraft, H. R., quoted, 23 n. 

Schulz, J. W., cited, 52 n. 

Scott, Andrew, mentioned, 103 ; 
sketch of, 103 n. 

Scott, John, 95 

Scott, Lt., Martin, 105 ; sketch of, 
105 n. 

Selden, Sarah, wife of John Gra- 
ham, 184 

Shearer, William, accompanies 
James, 98 ; mentioned, 98 n. 

Shepard, Elihu, quoted, 258 

Shields, John, mentioned, 81 n. 

Shining Mountains described, 
no fF., no n. 

Sibley, George C, factor at 
Fiery-Prairie Fort, 181; sketch 
of, 181 n. 

Sibley, John, 181 n. 

Smith, Jedediah S., one of his 
party killed, 27 n. ; takes Hen- 
ry's place in company, 266 

Smith, McLanahan and Patter- 
son party, referred to, 96 n. ; 
notices of, 286 ff. 

Snow-blindness, described, 48 n., 
49 

Snyder, Dr. John Francis, quot- 
ed, 7 



316 



Index 



Spadra, Arkansas town, 238, 
238 n. 

Spaniard, one-eyed interpreter, 
129 

Spaniards rescue James' party, 
124; go to Spanish camp, 90; 
meet Cordaro, 90 

Sprague, Otis, 184 n. 

Southwestern Historical Quarter- 
ly, quoted, 293 

Suliens, John, resident at Bon- 
homme settlement, 27 n. 

Tabbaho, meaning of, 124, 124 n. 
Taos, arrival at, 162, 162 n. ; 

left, 163; good pass to States 

from, 164 
Thomas, Doctor, company sur- 
geon, 18 18 n. 
Tonish (Antoine de Hatre), 

trader, 176; sketch, 176 n. 
Thorn, Solomon, subpoenaed as 

witness, 93 n. 
Todd, Andrew, 294 
Todd, Isaac, 294 
Thwaites, Reuben Gold, cited, 

261 
Tixier, Victor, cited, 106 n., 182 

n. ; quoted, 256 
Trudeau, Jean Baptiste, journal 

cited, 15 n. 

Union Mission, 241 n. 
U. S. and Mexico boundary line, 
156 

Vail, Brother, mentioned, 238; 
at Dwight Mission, 241 

Vaill, William F., 241 n. 

Valle, Francois, interferes in be- 
half of Americans, 38; sketch 
of, 38 n. ; reports attack on 
Jefferson River party, 70; 
warns Cheek and others, 73 ; 
letter to, 281 

Vallc, Don Frangois, mentioned, 
38 n. 

Valle, Capt. Frangois, C. S. A., 
mentioned, 38 n. 



Valle family, 38 n. 

Valliere, Don Joseph Bernard, 
commandant of Arkansas, 99 
n. 

Varnum, Justus, mentioned, 195, 
195 n., doctored with rattle- 
snake oil, 196 

Vasquez, Felicite, wife of An- 
toine Roy, 162 n. 

Vaugine (Veaugean), 99; sketch 
of Vaugine family, 99 n. ; 
James taken for, 129 

Villars, Marie, daughter of 
Louis Dubreuil, 265 

Villemont, Duverge de, 93 n. 

W^aldo, William, quoted, 259 

Ware. See Weir 

Warren, Capt. Peter, mentioned, 
7 

Washburn, Rev. Cephas, mis- 
sionary, 241 n. 

Waterloo War Eagle, notice of, 
10 

Webber, Walter, 240, 240 n. 

Weir, Allen, 283 

Weir, William, at Gallatin Riv- 
er, 50; snow-blind, 51; traps 
on Mo. River, 66 ; mentioned, 
69; suggests flight, 71; camps, 
73; encounter with bear, 76; 
crossed mountains with Henry, 
83 n. ; sketch of, 283 

White, Pliny, cited, 296 

W^hon (Juan), Indian, 200 

Wickham, Judge John, 184 n. 

Wilson, James, accompanies 
James, 98 ; prepares to defend 
himself, 123 

Wilt, Catherine, 281 

Wilkinson, Benjamin, biographi- 
cal sketch of, 256 

Wilkinson, James, 256 

Wilkinson, Joseph, 256 

Wilkinson, Walter, 256 

Woahl, Francois, mentioned, 73 n. 
(See Hull.) 

Worth, Gorham A., quoted, 
109 n. 



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